Potted Gardenia Zone 5a/b?

I have a potted gardenia plant that I have been successfully overwintering in my unheated attached garage. It has done pretty well---nice green, healthy leaves in summer, and makes lots of fat buds, but most of the buds drop off before they open. Can anyone tell me what I might do or not do in order to get more buds to stay on the plant and open into flowers? The pot has excellent drainage, and I water once a day till water comes out the bottom of the pot. I also give weekly liquid fertilizer---one with a high middle number, like a 9-59-9 or thereabouts.

Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

CJ

Gardenias like a lot of moisture. I had one I had in the house, and I finally set it in a saucer filled with peddles and water to give it added moisture. I also sprayed it with water.

They do like water, but if you're watering it once a day that should be plenty, unless you have it baking in the sun. Mine get watered less often than that and bloom just fine. How much sun/shade and how much heat does your plant get? I found with mine (admittedly I'm in a very different climate than you!) that putting them somewhere that was too hot (regardless of whether it was sunny or shady) was detrimental to getting blooms, but putting it in my north-facing courtyard which got AM sun but was shaded by a tree so it stayed ~10 degrees cooler than my backyard was the best place for it.

My gards are in the ground, and I never water them, but they are very established plants. I would say looking at the foliage on your plant, that it needs more nitrogen. I would have gone with a balanced slow release fert -like 14-14-14 that you apply once at the start of the growing season, that has all the micronutrients, and water as needed-but unless its extremely dry, I would water until just before the water comes out the bottom, otherwise you are pushing out the fert, and replacing it with just water.

Thanks for all the great advice, everyone! Yes, the leaves have been looking a bit yellow, tigerlily. And yes, I agree that the watering can be washing the fertilizeraway. That was a reason I didn't agree with someone who said not to give potted hibiscus a high middle number because phosphorous would build up in the soil. It's easy to wash the soil in a potted plant, and my hibiscus appear to thrive on a high middle number.

Ecrane, yes, the gardenia gets full sun all day, from early in the morning till dusk.

2pugdogs, good to see you again! Thanks for your help and suggestions about hibiscus, and if it was your suggestion about not giving potted hibiscus a high middle number fertilizer, well, it appears to be working well for me. So until it stops working I'll keep doing what works. I don't take plants into the house in winter. I store them in the garage, and I've not had a problem over-wintering the gardenia. there. In fact, it has been easier than over-wintering the hibiscus, I think because the hibiscus have such a dense, fibrous root system that they demand more water than does a gardenia. I really have to watch carefully not to let over-wintering hibiscus get too dry.

CJ

CJ,
I am in a zone much like yours (4a), and I too have my gardenia out for the summer. But I think mine sets buds when the nights are cool. This means that buds start to form in Sept. and Oct. By mid October, at least, I have to bring the plant in the house in a cool but sunny room where I water it as needed. The buds sit on the plants, with some blooming in the fall. Others remain on the plant until spring, and then it blooms regularly outside in late May and June and into July. During that time, it also is making buds. So, maybe by keeping yours in a dormant state in your garage, you are missing the blooms that have formed earlier. Just a thought.

As a related but different question, my gardenia grows wider and wider, without getting much taller. And, of course, taller is easier to accomodate in the house, and also brings the flowers nearer my nose. Is this the way all gardeninas grow, or is it possibly related to the variety or cultural methods?

Susan in Minneapolis

Hi, Susan.

I pruned my gardenia back before bringing it into the garage for the winter. I have no suitable place to keep it in the house. It had no buds after I pruned it back.But it made plenty of them during the spring and summer.

It sounds right what you are saying about cooler evening temperatures, because right now, with temperatures of mid-80's during the day and 60's at night, the plant has more buds opening on it than at any other time this year. There is one fully-opened flower, one half-opened and another bud just starting to open.

I'll see what happens next year. I think it is a lovely plant just for the leaves, though the flowers are exquisite, of course.

CJ