LOL, Miz_G! We all have those stories in our pasts :-) A friend from North Carolina keeps sending me gardenias and I dutifully plant and baby then. At least the decent burial is 50% accomplished when I plant it.

Have you ever tried a pot with them? I’ve always wanted to try one of the acidic loving plants in a planter with the right soil ... just to say, I DID IT. :D Plus, they’re so darn pretty!

I grew up in Arlington, my Mema grew those plants there. It was so different than here west of Ft Worth!

I haven't tried pots, just plant them in a dappled sun area with the native sand and leaf mold. I can't grow a lot of stuff, some plants just hate my style.

Funny! Miz G, it's still happening. I saw some women in Costco with the big flat carts loaded, and I mean loaded, with large blooming azaleas. Perhaps they were not going to plant them in San Antonio's alkaline soil and water them with the equally alkaline water, but having a pool party and they were to be a temporary, albeit expensive decoration.

OMG!!!!' Thank you for this hysterical post! I can remember my Mom had a Gardenia and an orange tree.....we were in south Alabama while Daddy was in Alaska. Military family. Daddy bought this house, and his mortgage was $43.00/month. He rented it when we were stationed with him and then we stayed in it when he was away. There were only 8 of us kids!!! She never did anything to either plant....they bloomed themselves crazy.

MZ-G- Gardenias do quite well for me in large pots and planters.~ 15 gallon is probably the minimum, ~25 gallon better. They just need an occasional drenching with Miracid to keep them healthy. (My ranch well water is alkaline) Same goes for Cameliias except they have to be taken out of the planters and bonzaied , pruning both the roots and stems every other year to keep them small enough keep in a 25 gallon planter.

Thank you, Steverino! I may try a Gardenia first. I so love how they smell!

When we bought first house with the practice husband, I was so excited I hand-picked the weeds amidst the lawn. Neighbors must have laughed at me for days! Ha

bossyvossy: I still do (hand-pick lawn weeds) -- it's something we kids all did as part of our chores AKA family contribution ADA do as your told. After 26 years at our current house, I really don't care (much) if the neighbors laugh. If the weather's nice, to me pulling weeds can actually be quite therapeutic -- don't ask my back, though, after a day of pulling! :)

I started to read the old gardenia thread, and had to close it, lest I jinx myself. For whatever reason, I planted a gardenia in our yard ~ 20 years ago. I pretty much do nothing to it, and it has somehow thrived despite my neglect. The flush of blooms doesn't last long, between the thrips and the immediate heatwave that comes through right about bloom time. (It's ~ 3' x 4' and flocked with about 100 blooms -- with 20-30 buds waiting in the wings.) It's one of those bushes that I do contemplate pulling: blooms only once a year, then just sits there. :) Perhaps my butterfly garden expansion will push me to remove the gardenia (or at least move it somewhere else).

Way back in 2011 I had a job doing the interior and poolside plants at El Tropicano hotel in downtown San Antonio. My boss handed me a Frost Proof gardenia and said to plant it in a pot, fertilize and water it. In my mind I’m thinking “Doesn’t she know that it’s not gonna work here with our water and heat?” Despite all of that, the damn thing grew and bloomed. It dropped a few leaves but ultimately thrived. It may still even be there for all I know.

There was a five ft tall gardenia bush growing and blooming at some low income apartments I used to visit. I could not believe my eyes! No one ever watered it, or fertilized it, or nothin'. It was just there, dark green, growing in the bare ground.

Then one year it was gone! What a mystery!

I've never been able to keep the temperamental things going despite my best efforts. Often I would be encouraged by many buds and then they would turn yellow and drop off. I think I got an average of one bloom off every one I tried to grow.

I do stop and smell them at nurseries though.

Hubby was wistfully smelling and looking at one yesterday in the nursery. I told him to sniff and keep going. We grew up in NC so those, camelias, and azaleas was part of everyones yard/childhood memories. I also remember what we called grandaddy longbeard/fringe trees and banna shrubs/michelia figo

.

Have you all tried adding cow manure to your beds?

From the success stories, they thrive on benign neglect!

Thanks, that was cathartic. I have 3 barely hanging on "August Beauty" in small pots. After last week's rain, a couple flowers opened on each. They DO have the full aroma, yee-hah! Before I cut one to bring indoors I checked up close. My heart sank as I saw it was crawling with dozens if not a hundred thrips (my current nemesis over in the roses dept).

I have some gardenias growing (Dallas area). Mix some sulphur powder in the top layer of the soil every few weeks. I bought just a squirt can of it. It acidifies the soil slowly. I also mix a spoon or so of vinegar in the watering can to water. It seems to work. My plants are green and flowering.

THANKS JU, MINE IS SUFFERING AFTER FOUR YEARS OF NEGLECT...LOL