Planting Gardenia shrub in SWFL?

I'm getting conflicting information on the internet and from nursery employees on whether it is imperative to plant ONLY grafted gardenia plants in SW Florida. I am told by some that only the grafted plants will survive because of some sort of bug that is in the ground and prone to attacking plants that are not grafted. I prefer to plant one of the non-grafted varieties because I don't want it to look like a small tree as the grafted ones do. They will be planted on either side of the garage (near cement) and the east side of the house. Even though I realize they grow quite large I intend to keep them fairly well trimmed so they don't obstruct the walkways. Do you think the "Mystery" variety non-grafted will work and will it not bloom nicely if I need to keep it too closely trimmed?