UPDATE: So far the new gardenia has survived and is producing new growth and buds. It is doing fine, although it lost quite a few bottom leaves, which was either from overwatering or transplant shock. They were yellow before they dropped. It hasn't shed any more leaves lately, so that's a good sign. I threw out my first gardenia which I ordered online because it never picked up and seemed very sick. I didn't want to deal with it since I had a new one which is healthy.

Hopefulauthor, with awful whiteflies, either try neem oil, or maybe put some aluminum foil under your plant, or silver mulch, it freaks the bugs out because they like the shade and don't get it with the foil/sunlight. Or do what I do and make a tobacco tea, it'll kill most soft bodied insects like aphids and whiteflies. Just don't use on tomato plants because you can get tobacco mosaic virus transmitted to tomatoes. Butterfly, yes, I just got 2 gardenias to KILL, HA HA HA!! From Logees too. I got a 'hardy' gardenia (har har hardy) and a fortunia (sp?) as well. They look lovely, and I am going to go up right now and take pictures of them. I will document their demise on here, so you can see them croak. Just to make it seem like I'm not totally heartless, I got them both some nice containers, put them on gravel where they get early sun, and I also got a strip of old jeans and put it in the pots before I potted them so they can wick up the water if they want, as well as getting humidity. I also mixed the soil as 1 part sand, one part peat moss and one part potting soil. Okay, I just took pictures of the poor victims..I got them a few days ago and they aren't dead, the fortunata actually has buds on them..let's see how long THOSE last...now I have to figure out how to post pictures here. http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x249/mersiepoo/?action=view&current=hardygardenia6.jpg http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x249/mersiepoo/?action=view&current=fortunata6.jpg http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x249/mersiepoo/?action=view&current=bothgarenias6.jpg

Hi Toni, I have all my gardenias previously planted in pots in plain loamy garden soil (rich black soil) with lots of earthworms and humus (decaying matter). They were very happy and green until I transferred them to the ground. Our local topsoil is actually contaminated with construction debris particularly concrete fragments, making our topsoil extremely basic. After transplanting to the ground, majority of my gardenias rapidly became chlorotic. However, I just let them be because there is nothing I can do about the soil. The contamination and leaching of lime to the topsoil is extensive. Despite the 'bad soil', my gardenias are still growing happily and they still bloom for me despite the chlorosis. They have grown from 1 ft tall plants in the pots to more than 3ft tall in the ground. I think the fuss about gardenias liking acidic soils and dying in basic soils or in 'less-than-perfect' garden soils are highly exaggerated. These plants (gardenias) are actually highly adaptable to various soil types like other plants. They even survive sandy soils fit for a cactus but they just won't be 'picture perfect' (similar to my gardenias). What gardenias (and michelia albas) do hate however is too much moisture in the soil particularly around their roots. I had ALL my gardenias rapidly dropping leaves and leaves turning yellow when my helper watered them daily despite the daily rains in our area. I was lucky to have immediately spotted the rapid leaf yellowing and dropping problem as I rarely attend to or inspect my gardenias anymore. (I have more problematic plants to take care of like my 'chilli thrip' infested roses, unhappy hydrangeas and suicidal apple seedlings.) Anyway, after telling my household helper not to water my gardenias anymore because it is rainy season in our climate, the leaf yellowing and dropping stopped. That's how sensitive these plants are to overwatering. Anyway to illustrate my point, here's a photo of my chlorotic gardenias (variegated and non-variegated) planted in the ground with less-than- perfect 'basic' soil: In contrast, I have 'Euphorbia milii' plants which are supposed to be 'succulent' plants similar in 'soil' and water requirements to cacti. Here they are thriving and flowering profusely in pots filled with rich, black, loamy garden soil which is 'less-than-perfect' and actually counterindicated for a succulent plant like Euphorbia milii. (Succulents prefer sandy soils as they are adapted to dry, arid, climates.) tropical

This is a very interesting thread. But, it sounds almost like directions for mixing up a witch's brew. (No criticisms intended here, just an observation.) At the risk of sounding like a know it all, I would like to tell you all what Steve Bender says in The Southern Living Garden Book about Gardenias. If I were you, I would listen to him. My thoughts are the ones in parentheses. Listen to those only if you want to. Gardenias need good drainage, acid soil, and lots of organic matter. (This is me now: you can provide all of these things by working a couple shovels full of peat moss into the hole at the time of planting.) Plant them "high in the hole" (If you're planting a potted plant from the nursery, let the surface of the soil in the pot be a good inch higher than the surface of the ground you're planting it in. Mound soil from the ground up and around the root ball. This planting technique helps meet that good drainage requirement.) and do not let them be crowded by other plants. (This is very important! They need a good two to two and a half feet of space on all sides of their trunk. If they're too crowded they will have yellow leaves, develop sooty mold, and have even more insects than usual.) They will sulk and have yellow leaves if they have to compete with tree roots. (I have personally experienced this and it is gospel.) Mulch the plants instead of cultivating around them (their roots are near the surface and will be damaged by alot of cultivating.). Feed every 3 to 4 weeks during the growing season with an acid fertilizer (Miracle Gro or Holly Tone would be two), fish emulsion (plants like this like no other fertilizer I have ever tried in 30 plus years of gardening) or blood meal. They need regular water (an inch a week) and appreciate shade in the afternoon, but will do fine in full sun if all their other needs are met. It is true that gardenias seem to be insect magnets, but they are so tough, you can usually get away with doing nothing, allowing nature (ladybugs, for instance) to do its job, as long as you have followed the above directions. (This assumes that you don't use alot of insecticides that kill the bugs that want to be your friends.) Horticultural oil is a good pest control, but you are only supposed to apply it in the wintertime! It could do real harm to your plants in the heat of summer. For those of you that have lost some shrubs, you should know that Gardenias are among the easiest plants to propagate on the planet. Take stem cuttings right now (July-August), and you can have them rooted in two weeks in a glass of water or stuck into moist soil in the shade. In a year, they'll be at least as large as nursery stock plants. While all these ideas for Epsom Salts, etc. have some value, the truth is, you are just guessing at what your plants really need. It is cheaper in every way (time, trouble, and money) to start with the good solid fundamentals of gardening and to follow the advice of the experts. If that fails, get a soil test for $5.00. Then you'll really KNOW what you plants need. If you live in the south, chances are if you follow Steve Bender's guidelines, you won't need anything else to grow gorgeous gardenias. And by the way, if you don't have the Southern Living Garden Book, you can get one for the price of two shrubs (that might die without good information) or three containers of fertilizer. I couldn't garden without it myself. (And no, I don't work for Oxmoor house.:)