Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener: Help with Gardenia, 3 by lefthandedsnake

lefthandedsnake wrote:
I need help with my Gardenia.

It\'s six years old, I grew it from a cutting. At first it was planted in a pot, and it thrived there to the point where it covered that whole area pictured with its branches. Then a few years ago it started losing all its leaves. We figured it needed to be planted in the ground. When we removed it from the pot the soil was full of little black ants. We planted it on the location where the pot had always been, and it looked like it died, until these leaves started emerging two years ago. But it\'s always had yellowish leaves, and flower and leaf buds often fall before they can mature. It\'s never really been the same since.

This is in the Philippines, which means it gets enough sunlight, so I don\'t think lighting is the problem, and it\'s regularly watered. There are some tips which suffer aphids (pictured), but they only affect a few leaf buds and that doesn\'t explain why new branches don\'t emerge.

Can anybody help me? This particular plant has lots of sentimental value for me.