Once upon a time, I had a gardenia. It died. Fast forward a number of years: 3-4 months ago I was sent a gardenia by mail. It, of course, is not going great guns and I confess to feeling quite intimidated by the darn plant! It has flowered 3 times although it came with a gazillion buds, most of which have dropped off. The soil does not look terrific, but I am hesitant to change it now. I am totally confused by a post suggested by Mike (2 years ago?) regarding proper soil for a gardenia. Can somebody enlighten me? I am in the peculiar position of living in a retirement community and do not have the ability to start making up my own soil mix. I recognize that commercially available mixes may not be the best choices, but are there one or two that are better than acceptable? I have the proper conditions except for the possibility of too warm a temperature at night in the winter (my husband is always cold). North, east and southern exposures - too dry in the wintertime so I have the plant on pebbles. I would never remember to mist daily. We live near the ocean and therefore have high levels of humidity in the summertime. By the same token, summertime really lasts just 3 to 3-1/2 months: June, July, August and usually the first half of September. I do not know under what conditions the plant may visit the out-of-doors. Once outdoors the shade takes over in the afternoon, probably good lighting for the plant. However, I might forget about it leading to drying out... Any and all suggestions are more than helpful! Thank you.

I have only been growing these for a few months, so I'm no expert. I can tell you what has worked for me with the help of many from this forum. They like morning sun and prefably some shade in the hottest part of the day. Although I've heard when they are established, they can take full sun. For me I have it in morning sun and afternoon shade. I fertilize mine every two weeks with miracid and I give it plenty of water. It is in the upper 80's for us now, and no rain yet. Keep the soil moist, not "Wet". If you pot it use a fast draining soil. you can do a search in the "Container forum" for a really good soil mix. Al (tapla) has several great ones. They like high humidity and since I live in Florida that's one less thing I have to worry about. I also use Iron Chelate once every 6-8 weeks to keep the leaves dark green. These plants in my opinion is one that requires more feeding, care and upkeep. I've noticed that if I don't check them on a regular basis, they let me know. Yellow leaves, aphids, bud drops. Sometimes brown leaves are caused by either too much or too little water or low humidity. Yellow leaves are common with gardenias, as long as its not excessive. I have 2 in pots and one in the ground. I've attached a link below on gardenia care. Hope this helps and good luck with your gardenia. Here is a link that might be useful: Gardenia Care

Hi Toni I'm sorry to hear about the bad news on flooded basements and about your lost in the basement. I hope everything gets better soon for everyone and that everyone gets their electric back soon. I will say a prayer so that god helps everyone and things get better soon I'm just looking for a book that has info on gardenias as well as other plants like roses, palm trees and basil. Toni: how do you take care of your gardenias? I see that your gardenias look good. I want to know what care do you give them to see if It helps me with this gardenia thats giving me a headace May be you can spray the garden safe 3 and 1 fungicide it controls spiders and mites. LOL about the rabbit. may be it's a cat that might be eatting the leaves of your plant. all my gardenias expect one is doing great. I have 7 gardenias one is in between and the other 6 are doing great. I do have a rose that looks sick. can you give me some advice on how to take care of rose plants please? I think you still could feed your gardenia until november. I water the gardenias with de-still water since I have hard tap water and I hear that is bad for them and makes their leaves go yellow. Take Care Richie

OK Bill, first of all I live in the North Bay (Marin) gets a bit warmer here than Sausalito, Tiburon or SF, so I dont have that much fog. If it does happen to roll this far north, it usually clears by 8 or 9:00 am at this time of year, it is rare that we get it though. The warm season up here isnt as long as yours. It starts to get chilly at night here in October. It seems to me the plant started going dormant late Sept, early Oct. Secondly, I did write down the numbers correctly but there may be something else on this label that would probably make sense to you so I will type exactly what it says. SPECIALTY FERTILIZER GUARANTEED ANALYSIS TOTAL NITROGEN (N).................. 0.15% 0.15% Nitrate nitrogen AVAILABLE PHOSPHORIC ACID (P2 O3)... 0.85% SOLUBLE POTASH (K2 O)............... 0.55% SOURCE POTASSIUM NITRATE PHOSPHORIC ACID It says to use it all year around everytime I water, aids in blossoming. One bottle cap in each quart of water for normal watering or misting. Use half-strength for orchids. This stuff is called Eleanor's VF-11 and the company is out of Santa Cruz.If you can figure that out, good for you! My husband is an accountant and he couldn't figure out the percentage either, he did say that I had read it right though. Any other info you have for me would be great, maybe I will just go out and buy the fertilizer you recommended earlier. I think it might be a little too late to feed my plant at this point, what do you think? Thanks for all the help Bill. Leslie