I have 18 roses in containers. My climber is in a 15 gallon plastic container and the rest are hybrid tea roses in 5 and 6 gallon containers (5 gallon plastic and what I am calling 6 gallon are terra cotta pots that are bigger than 5 gallons but not by much - they could be 7 gallons). My roses started bare root (with 2 exceptions - 1 pulled from the ground and 1 purchased already potted) 6 years ago. Obviously it's better to have a bigger pot, but I haven't had major problems with this size pot. I have changed the soil once so far just to keep it fresh. I fertilize every other week at 1/2 strength with liquid fertilizer similar to Miracle Gro and once per month I fertilize with fish emulsion and an organic slow-acting fertilizer like alfalfa meal, blood meal, or Grow More. I never apply all of this on the same day, so that usually means a schedule similar to: Wednesday Week 1 Organic granular fertilizer Saturday Week 1 Weak liquid fertilizer Saturday Week 2 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 2 Spray fungicide Saturday Week 3 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 3 Fish emulsion Saturday Week 4 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 4 Spray fungicide (I try to do the nasty things like spray chemicals and smelly fish emulsion during the week so that my neighbors and I don't have to deal with it when we are BBQing and the like on the weekends.) I spray for insects when they become a problem, except that I do proactively spray all of my buds with spinosad because thrips are the bane of my existence. For instance, I don't think I sprayed an insecticide at all last year. Most years I end up spraying maybe twice. I don't want to kill the praying mantis and hover flies that I get. Fungicide is a different story and I spray every other week (the week I do not fertilize). I use Immunox alternated with Mancozeb/Banner Maxx. When I do use an insecticide I use one mixed with yet a different fungicide just to switch it up. That's about it. Here in CA I usually prune in January, although I pruned in February this year. We usually get 3 flushes per year, although I had 4 this year with the mild weather. The biggest challenge I face growing roses in containers is keeping them watered. A rose in the ground can withstand even the fiercest heat for a few days between waterings. My container roses need to be watered every day when the temperature is above 90 degrees and when it's 100+ sometimes I water them twice if they look sad when I get home from work. If I miss a day the roses don't die, but the new growth gets crispy and the flowers I work so hard for burn up. Luckily, this is usually just for a couple of weeks in July or August. Otherwise, I water 2-3x per week. Right now with the rain I am watering just 1x to supplement Mother Nature.

I think your gardenia variety is 'August Beauty' instead of 'Autumn Beauty.' 'August Beauty' is a gardenia variety that is widely sold in the garden centers of the big box retailers. We have an 'August Beauty' gardenia; and I think it is the nature of this plant to have a rather willowy habit of growth, with a tendency to weep. What you are observing in your plants may, therefore, be a natural phenomenon of their growth. I would certainly hate to whack on this variety, and subsequently lose its blooms, only to watch it regrow in its willowy, weepy form. I think the 'Chuck Hayes' variety of gardenia may have a stockier growth habit than 'August Beauty.'

Thanks for the input, jxbrown. You've made the case for bark mulch a lot stronger! I've mentioned some of the plants that keep coming back, but, honestly, there are a lot more than I can think of offhand! SOME of them: cosmos, black-eyed Susans, Nicotiana alata, Cynoglossum amabile, Loves Lies Bleeding, and others. As you can see, these all tend to be on the TALL side! So what happens is they completely drown out the rose and gardenia bushes, which are only 1-1/2 years old and not very tall. I can see--once I have the unwanted plants eradicated--placing some low-growing annuals and/or perennials at the base of each bush, but right now I need to concentrate on getting rid of next spring's growth I don't want.

Hi getgoing100_7b_nj! I haven't had much luck with gardenias either, and I'm supposed live in a zone where they thrive outdoors. Two gardenias I planted in a spot with lots of sun and gave them good soil and fertilizer, and they never bloomed. One I planted in soil that is hard like a rock, in full shade, and although the plant is a little spindly, it gives me blooms every year. Gardenias just died if I kept them indoors. I would recommend that you get a cold hardy gardenia since you live in zone 7, to have on your balcony. They will do much better outside than inside. There are a few cold tolerant varieties so here is an example: Kleim's Hardy Gardenia. I hope this helps! Have a nice weekend, damask_rose_5 : )