Trader Joe's don't all carry the same merchandise. But that's a fairly good price on the Begonia.

closest one to me is about 60 miles.. or an hour ... regardless of the miles ...

i suspect the gas money will offset the bargain from my perspective ..

but im happy you found something to make you happy ... so happy.. you wanted to share the adventure with us ... thx

ken

Mike, you are right about not driving all the way to check on the potential gardenia/begonia bargain. :) I am still feeling happy about the purchase. The begonia was on my wish list but I refused the idea of selling crazy amounts of money for a cutting or a small plant, especially with the added shipping cost. This gardenia looks like a winner and keeper/survivor for me for a few reasons. It had several open blooms and some spent flowers as well, which I took as a very good sign. I was correct I. That assessment given that at least two buds have opened for me since then and none appears to be stalled or dying (but it is early days yet).
I have killed all my gardenia purchases, fairly quickly for the most part. The problem usually starts with the fact that the plants have lots of fat buds but no flowers or a single bud forced open. Once home, those bud refuse to open and eventually turn brown or drop but rarely do they open. The attempts to get the buds to open by trying various cultural changes, and the quest to kill the inevitable spider mite discovered on the underside eventually leads to their demise.
This one too appears to have spider mites (the yellow/white residue under most leaves) and is somewhat root bound but given my previous misadventures I am not going to repot it to a bigger pot and it will only get a water hosing for the mites. I will revisit when all 20 of the remaining buds are spent. :)

You are right Dave but at least some may have the same merchandise. It may be worth popping by for anyone looking for a bargain on these.

The basis for their continuous potted plant bargains is they buy culls from mega producers. For instance here where I am in the PNW the Trader Joe potted blooming orchids are B grades that didn't meet the minimum size standards at the enormous production facility in California that they all come from. For instance things like, say, 2 spikes instead of 3 and so on. And not anything where the plant is defective per se. Just not big enough to get full price.

That's a beautiful gardenia. There is nothing better than the scent of gardenia filling a room or your outdoor space! Those are good prices. Thank you for the "plant alert".

Nice haul of plants! I just visited my local Baltimore Trader Joe's and noticed their excellent prices on houseplants, including orchids. Alas, they didn't have anything this time that I didn't already have (minus the orchids--I don't do orchids), but I traded recipes with the manager for Belgian waffles...

Nice plants, thanks for alerting us. Hope they both thrive for you, especially that gardenia. I hardly ever see a healthy one and not sure what the secret is to growing them successfully. I love plant shopping at TJ’s. Have gotten some nice ones. If they are “B” plants, I don’t care!

Hardly surprising about the spider mites on your gardenia GetGoing.... they are spider mite magnets. Not an easy plant for many of us to keep happy. I wish you luck!

I am happy to report that both plants are doing well. The begonia appears to grow rather slowly and the leaves tend to get injured easily when trying to stake and they tend to trail otherwise. So far so good.
The gardenia did drop a third of its buds eventually. I potted it up to a very slightly bigger terracotta pot (from a six inch plastic pot to a 6 inch terracotta) and moved it outdoors and slowly into a sunny location with some mid day shade. I gave it Azalea long release fertilizer and watered intermittently with some vinegar in it. It got a few water housings of the underside while it was indoors initially while it had buds but left to its own devices outdoors. It is now growing new a little lighter colored leaves and has one fat bud growing steadily and about to bloom. Looks like I may finally have gardenia survivor. Keeping my fingers crossed.

My longest run with gardenia in pot was 3 years (2 winters indoors) with summers on the balcony. With poor blooming . i gave up until i have a southern garden (IF i ever have it ..). some plants are not meant to grow indoors and/or in pots.

You are obviously correct Petrushka. Everytime I kill a gardenia, and I have killed a few, I swear off it but come next spring and a bud laden Gardenia bargain in the grocery store, I give in after some initial self control. Perhaps I can perfect the secret art of growing a container garden is eventually. After all, the big box stores have these ancient looking gardenias, including standards, in pot bound conditions in perpetuity. Any tips?

Never ever let it dry out! or get soggy 😁. it prefers temp drop at night and high humidity : so not doable indoors.

they are bottom wicked in nurseries , so are grown in peaty mix in smaller pots that dry up faster, but wick from bottom and they are usually very pot bound. at home with top watering they they get too soggy and roots rot.

Of course they get perfect diffused bright light and perfect temp range, which you cannot provide indoors. outdoors in pots grts too hot and might not be humid enough consistently. so if you have a ventilated green house you can grow them well too 🤣!

i think garden nursery gardenea is better then florist : its usually in at least 1 gal po, so deeper . 6” pot prolly needes water ev day.

but! too much peat will remain too wet for daily top watering. i think they need a faster draing mix like 1:1:1 (soilless mix/perlite/bark).

if i got one now i’d self-water-wick of course like i do all my other plants. Back then i top watered and did not change the original soil.

By the way yr begonia catch is great! it’s B. maculata i think. nice big plant for the price!

Thank you. Those are useful tips. I potted in terracotta so it will keep roots cooler and drier. I think the mix was more bark chips with rice husk mulch on this one so I did not change the mix. Plus, everytime I have changed potting soil, the poor of things have proceeded to die immediately after wards. Surprisingly, mine does not require daily watering. I water when the leaves feel limp. The leaf coloration is an ongoing problem, I may need to up the fertilizer and/or vinegar.

You are right, the maculata prices had shot up with the house plant craze. I recently saw them at home depot for $20 which isn't too bad I guess but I personally wouldn't shell out that much for anything other than a non phal orchid. This one has three stalks and many babies underneath but I am keeping it in a 6 inch terracotta to prevent root rot. It came in a 4 inch plastic.

Getting leaves go limp is too much stress, try to time it , so you can water 1 day before they go limp. at least roughly. they drop leaves when too dry and and/or leaves go yellow.

yah, i would not recommend repotting right away and if soil looks ok then i’d just uppot when it’s too pot bound. you’ll need fertilizer for acid loving plants of course or ironite. miracid is ok.

There were many ’gardenia killer’ threads before😏, you might want to search for those too.

I have read a whole bunch of gardenia threads. :) By limp I mean not wilting but not as stiff and crispy as they usually are. I water when they feel soft to the touch and the top 1/4“ feels dry. I just inspected the leaf underside and the particles indicating spider mites haven't completely vanished so that threat is looming too. But this is the longest I have kept one alive and relatively healthy so I have hope. I use a humidifier indoors in winter and let the room cool dow with no heating overnight. We shall see how it goes. Here is what it looks like now. I have started a cutting which has already started growing so I am getting an insurance policy going as well. :)

it looks very nice and dense! and a fat bud too! nice.

i got tropical tahitian gardenia in FL to try to keep alive. brought it up north to JC for summer. am also battling yellowing leaves, as my building has softened water. giving it a little vinegar and miracid too.

It really was that way when I got it, I think there are 4/5 plants in there. I have learnt the hard way that arrogantly correcting the growers "mistakes" by separating the plants, changing potting mix or easing root bound status is counterproductive unless you are a pro, which I am not. My aim now is to build on and maintain what the grower managed. I have more freedom with the plant I started, and I think in the long run it might turn out to be healthier and happier because it will grow up in the conditions it is going to live in. But the one I successfully started last year died when I neglected keeping it consistently watered so there is that.
I had to look up Tahiti an gardenia, it seems quite exotic. I hope you can keep it alive and happy. In my case, I have found that usually it is the corrective or preventive measures I take, whether for spider mites or Fe/Mg deficiency, or root rot, that lead to the quicker demise of poor things than the original problem, perceived or real.

I agree that getting used to the plant and watching it for awhile before doing anything is a good policy. but occasionally it fails 😏.

i got a fab calathea from a very reputable nursery in FL and left it in its mix while i was there for a few months. it declined so badly i had to bare root and repot in perlite for rerooting. just in time! but it’ll be in my mix soon and self-sufficient.

Of course we would like to see your long lived potted gardenias. :) My problem is I manage to kill them well short of the next winter. Also, I do not have a cool non freezing place for overwintering plants unless I cordon off one of my two bedrooms for the duration of the winter. It will still get sun and walls would be heated due to adjoining rooms being kept warmer...