Brooke - It's a full sun tree where it occurs naturally, so wants as much light as you can give it w/o the leaves over-heating. It will tolerate full, direct summer sun indoors if there is air movement to help disrupt the layer of air that surrounds the leaves (called the boundary layer), or you have an overhang that prevents light from striking the leaves directly. A south or west window is often ideal if it has an overhang because it offers protection from the summer sun and allows weaker winter sun to strike the plant directly. It will probably survive in the spot you've pictured if you're careful about watering, but it won't be happy, and it will only be self-supporting if you prune the ht regularly so the trunk won't flex (it's easier to bend a long stick than a short stick with equal diameter). Bottom line is, it really does want more light. Al

Unless it's a dwarf version, China doll can get much taller than 8 feet. Let's get rid of the silly old wives' tale about any plant liking to be root bound. No plant likes to be rootbound. What is necessary for plants to stay alive is for their roots to not rot, which can happen so easily in a pot with dense soils, like ground dirt, or bagged mixes of predominantly tiny particles of peat, (or to simply shrivel from simply never getting any water.) Having very little soil around the roots would make the soil dry more quickly, and for even the most dedicated plant-overwaterers to not rot the roots of their plants. This is not ideal, since most non-cactus plants are stressed by dry conditions, it's just a way of coping with soil that has little air in it when moist. A more porous, chunky soil (like cactus/palm, if one is buying bagged,) can have more air in it even when it is moist because there is space between the particles. Roots need oxygen and moisture at the same time to function. When there are tiny particles of any kind in a pot, such as peat, sand, silt, clay, they filter into all of the tiny spaces in a pot, eliminating the air. "Overwatering" is the label and manifestation when roots have suffocated and/or rotted, combo of both. Over time, organic bits decompose into smaller bits, so even the "best" soil, if it has organic components, will need to be replaced when this happens. The speed at which this happens depends on many variables, but on average, about 1-3 years. Mine kept getting root bound so fast, I couldn't keep it moist enough. This is the fastest growing woody plant I've ever had.

Wow. That is nice. I did not know you could grow rose trees in Florida. Is that on fortuiana. Do you have to worry about neamtodes in your area of Florida? And how do you protect her from the winds? I am in South Florida and trying not to be envious :) . Very nice. Thanks for sharina

Karen, I think you're right, it might not be a China Doll, I had that feeling too but decided it was because it was so wilted that it didn't look right, but now that I look closer I can see that the flower buds are all wrong and the leaves are too round. Not sure what it is but gardenia sounds like a good possibility. explaurie, maybe you can take another look at the tag....