A potted gardenia in the north is nothing like any other house plants you regularly see. The problem with gardenia is that its roots are extremely prone to root rot, and even worse, once root rot started, it's very hard to reverse it, the rot will proceed to the whole root system. So don't let the root rot in the first place. Once the process starts, it's going to be a long and painful declining. You will see stunned growth, old leaves yellowing but don't fall off, leaves losing shine, new growth wilts even when the pot is still heavy. A jasmine, on the other hand, can have root rot, but once the condition improves, the root rot will normally stop itself. I have killed many gardenias and also has great success with a couple of them. I have failed a couple times miserably repoting gardenia into Al's gritty mix from peat based old soil. I am still in the process of learning, but here is what I have found so far. For a gardenia with peat based old soil, it's very hard for the gardenia to grow new roots into the gritty mix if you don't bare root the gardenia first. I don't know the reason, maybe the PH difference plays a factor. It's very easy for the gardenia to grow new roots into the 5-1-1 even you just gently tease apart the tangling roots. Even with 5-1-1, dreaded winter cloudy days can be fatal to your indoor gardenia unless the gardenia is very pot bound. The soil can still stay wet for too long. The rule of thumb is that the potting mix has to dry out in about two or three days after watering, otherwise, you run the risk of root rotting. I am trying to see the gritty mix could offer me an answer. Also a growth light may also necessary. In short, it's a high maintenance plant. I repotted my gardenia from peat based soil into gritty mix about 10 days ago. Now it's still in a shock, it will wilt slightly in the afternoon, but will perk up in the morning. Also there are a handful of old leaves turning yellow, but this gardenia has tons of leaves. I am still have my fingers crossed. Good luck with your gardenia

How is your scotch heather doing MO_Girl? I've only tried that one once and it died in mid summer for me so I assumed it didn't like the heat but maybe it was something else. You asked if sedum was easy to grow - very easy! It's wonderfully heat and drought tolerant. It's not evergreen but the dried flowers will remain for awhile and give you some winter interest. Autumn Joy is easy to find and grows quickly. If you need evergreen perennials for shade, heuchera and helleborus are two of my favorites. Helleborus is tricky to winter sow though. Heuchera - I got no seedlings the first time I winter sowed it and way too many the last time. For sun - dianthus is a nice front-of-border plant. I'm still experimenting with which ones do best here, but so far the green leafed varieties don't come back for me. The ones I've had with gray leaves do better and I like them better anyway. That would be a easy one to winter sow. I had good luck with candytuft seeds as well. I don't think common yucca will take over your yard. It's just very difficult to kill, maybe impossible. Plant it where you want to keep it for the rest of your life. I planted one too close to an outdoor water faucet and get stabbed every time I turn the water off and on. I have never gotten any volunteer seedlings though. I don't think it's the same one Vera mentioned. I don't get runners out away from the plant, just one big 3-4 foot clump.

Heather I hope your plant did well in the basement. I dug up a rather large black and blue and put in the only available pot 12" I had. I covered it with a black bag and put it in my garage. I cut the stems way down to where it would all go inside the the black bag. I also am able to keep my garage in the 40s with an inwall heater but Im not sure that was necessary for it to survive which it did. I have left that plant in the same 12" pot all summer and it flowered mightily. I will do this again with it will put it in a larger pot. Thank you very much says the b & b. Also for those that dont know Im happy to report on my experiment of covering my entire garden with plastic and bagged mulch worked better than I hoped. It worked with 100% return on every single plant covered. As a note I had not had my agastache tutti frutti return in my zone 6 before I did this. I cut all the plants down to just a few inches above the crown so I could cover with the plastic. It is important to seal the edges as best you can with rocks, sheperds hooks , etc. Also it is important : before you cover make sure dormancy has started, that temps are consistantly in the 40s and lower. Higher than that and plants may try to grow again and this is not what you want. Steve

I've just bought a ground level condo that has a great patio outside and ~5x10 sunroom (2 side brick walls, 3rd wall is a glass slider into the living room, and a 4th wall that is a glass slider facing outside, 8 ft. ceiling, no ventilation in sunroom unless I leave one of the doors open). Over the summer I've accumulated two 3-4 ft avacado trees, two 1 ft avacado trees, a tomato plant, a flowering shrub type plant, and a 5-6 ft. peach tree. These have been happy out on the patio getting plenty of sun. With fall coming up, I want to bring all of these plants inside, but am worried that they won't get enough light in the sunroom, and am thinking about purchasing a grow light. From the research I've done, it seems like I definitely want to use High Pressure Sodium 1000 watt bulbs. The HPS seems like it will help the plants continue to flower and eventually hopefully grow fruit. The 1000 watt seems necessary due to the large height variety I have in my plants resulting in me not being able to get the lamp too close to the shorter ones. There seem to be quite a few different size and reflector hood types. Which is best for the plant mix I have above and area described? Next year, I would likely be adding some shorter blueberry plants as well. I would like to purchase the right light/hood combo to cover the whole area so I can fill up the whole 5x10 area in future years. Finally, it seems like some reflector hoods are air-cooled. This may be a stupid question, but since I'm only going to be using the lights during the winter months (and could crack the outside door if needed), and the sunroom should be kept naturally cool from the weather outside/losing heat through the windows, do I need to worry about getting an air-cooled reflector hood? It seems like any excess heat could also just heat the condo! Additional information is that I plan on turning the light on in the morning when I leave for work, and off when I come home in the evenings. The light would likely be on for 9 straight hours. Thanks for any advice in advance!