Why won't my gardenia bloom?

Factual Questions
1

I am not much of a gardener. Not at all, actually. But I recently bought a plant to put in a pot by my front door – a gardenia. Looked to be in wonderful health, with several buds looking like they were about to bloom.

I transplanted it from the plastic pot to a terra cotta pot, filled with potting soil, and put it in place. Watered.

No flowers yet. The buds haven’t opened at all. And some of the leaves are turning a bit yellowish.

I water it once/week, giving it about a quart of water each time. Is that too much? Too little?

It doesn’t receive any direct sunlight in its spot on the porch. Is that good or bad?

2

I have killed two gardenias by overwatering. They don’t like their roots too waterlogged. Mine is not in direct sun but it gets a good deal of light… And it blooms intermittently, and sometimes all the buds fall off if the weather gets too cold at the wrong moment. (My experiences with the Bay area is that it’s often too cold!) The yellow leaves may be related to the shock of being transplanted. Actually plastic pots are probably better than terra cotta in a lot of climates because terra cotta dries out in a big hurry, but with a gardenia that’s probably not so bad as long as you don’t go away for a week in the heat of the summer (if it ever gets hot where you are). You can help the plant not be so stressed by taking off the yellow leaves so it doesn’t have to keep trying to support them (unless they are all yellow!). Good luck.

3

Can you post a link where there’s a picture?

How big was the pot you bought it in and how big is the pot you have it in now? How tall is the gardenia? What kind of soil did you use? (Presumably you bought a bag of potting soil somewhere. Miracle Grow would be fine. Scooping up a handful of dirt from you yard might be fine. Might not.)

Is there drainage? By that I mean, you should have a hole at the bottom of the pot. And when you water it, a bunch of water should gush out the bottom. You can pour a quart in, but most of it should drain out. If a quart is going in and sitting there, swampy-like, that’s too much. Once a week in your area is probably fine.

Gardenias require full sun. Receiving no direct sunlight is bad. It means your plant won’t bloom. (You need a shade-loving plant on your porch!) That could also cause the leaves to start to turn yellow. It’ll be dead soon if you don’t move it to a sunny spot! :eek

4

The formula for gardenia blooms is to keep their day time temp above 70?F, with a drop in temp of about 10?F at night. This “sets” the buds.
Watering is tricky, too much they get root rot, to little the gasp and die.
I use an electronic gage. but before I had it My rule of thumb was to water when the top 1-2" of soil felt dry.
They are prone to spider mites. I used a systemic pesticide that I mixed into the top 1" of soil about every 4-6 months. It was the only thing that ever worked. I tried lots of non-toxic stuff they seemed to thrive on. Even external 'cidal sprays, just seemed to piss the little buggers off .
The amount of light depends on the variety. Most will do well in bright, but indirect light.
Good luck, When they bloom the fragrance will knock you over.

5

here and Here are good straight forward gardenia culture sites.
Oh I forgot to mention humidity. Mist the plant 50 times a day, if you can’t manage that, as often as you can, helps.

6

Wow, did I ever pick the wrong plant. But they smell so nice… :frowning:

About the only thing I did right was put it in a pot with a drain and potting soil. But it gets no direct sun; temperatures currently are in the low 50s and night, low 60s during the day. Within a few weeks they’ll rise to high 50s at night, low 80s in the day, but humidity will continue to be quite low (the blessing of life of California). And no one is around to mist it 50 times a day.

Any suggestions for what would do better in this location, after I torture this one to death?

7

Wow, I guess we’re spoiled here. We just put them in the ground and they grow and bloom their hearts out. I came in the thread just out of being confused that one wouldn’t grow for anything but being stepped on by my dad as a baby plant.

8

Get a small plant light and put it in the bathroom.

9

I have three aucuba plants in pots on my porch, they are happy in the shade. They seem to be fairly tough and forgiving. If planted in the ground they grow to about 9 feet, but they won’t get that big if potted.

10

Well, one thing I’ve learned in my job and in my hobby: You can’t get two editors to agree on one thing and you won’t have much success getting gardeners to agree on much either.

I, for one, have a life, as I’m sure you do. I do not have the time nor inclination to go around misting things all day. Imagine if you had more than one gardenia! I follow Zsofia’s school of thought: I popped a gardenia in the ground, water it once in a while if I can’t remember the last time it rained and fuhgeddaboudit. Blooms every May like clockwork. I never worry my pretty little head about it.

Of course I live in an area where it’s at least 60% humidity outside at least 80% of the time. And the daytime temps are above 70 probably 300 days out of the year here too, so I’m not calling BS… I’m just saying different things are necessary in different regions. I can’t imagine humidity contributing to blooms, but hey, I don’t garden in Seattle, so maybe they have to do that there a lot because there’s no moisture… wait a minute. Doesn’t it rain, like all the time, in Seattle?** Picunurse**… have you ever tried to grow gardenias outside in your area without misting 50 times a day? Can we have a little more background on how you got to your advice, please? I’m curious.

Oh, and before I make recommendations, what kind of plant do you want? Do you want something that blooms constantly? Do you have a certain color in mind? Do you want something that’s really low maintenance? Would you mind re-planting once a year or even twice a year, for change of pace? Or would you rather pot one plant one time and occasionally pour the backwash from your water bottle out into it. I need more information about your knowledge level and lifestyle – but I can find the perfect plant for you!

11

I want low-maintenance & hardy. Healthy-looking greenery required; occasional blooms desirable; fragrance a plus. I like the “dump water bottle on my way by” maintenance schedule. Re-planting wouldn’t be a deal-breaker.

12

Okay. First get a Boston Fern. Don’t like the Boston Ferns? While you’re standing there in the fern section of wherever you’re buying plants (nursery, home depot, whatever), look around. See any other ferns you like better? Grab one nice healthy looking fern. (Don’t spend more than $10.) When you plant it in your pot, you want several inches of dirt around the main plant (the fern), which you’ll put in the center of the pot. Or off center, be creative, knock yourself out. (Your pot should be big enough for several plants. We’re going to make a little arrangement.) A Philodendron is another low-light, low maintenance plant with which you just can’t go wrong. The fern would give you some height, while a philodendron would have more of a hangy-plant, drapy thing going. Snoopy kept a philodendron in his doghouse. Please don’t ask me why I know that. :dubious: Choose one or the other.

Then go to the “annuals” section (ask someone if it isn’t obvious where it is) and pick up enough pansies, petunias, impatiens, violas, or whatever strikes your fancy (I’d go for violets), in whatever colors you like, to fill the rest of the pot. Make sure you read the little tags and they say “shade” or “partial shade.” If you see “full sun,” put the pretty little plant back down. You’re looking for a whole table full of colorful, small plants for less than $1 each. These will be the annuals to choose from. They vary from season to season. All those I just listed can tolerate low light and, except for the impatiens, do not need a lot of water. You have to watch those impatiens. Where I live, they’re thirsty and too much work for me. I hate 'em. Some people love 'em. There’s no accounting for taste.

Ferns will always provide you with nice greenery, don’t need a lot of light or water and can generally be mostly ignored. Annuals will bloom constantly for a long time, then stop blooming and die. But they’re cheap, so you just stop by the garden center, pick up a few more of whatever’s in season now – as long as the tags say it likes shade – and now your little “garden” changes out every couple months, but you have pretty flowers with little cost (I’d be able to do this for about $10 at Target, depending on the size of the pot), and little effort. The fern just stays in there, you only have to replant the annuals a couple times a year when they’re spent and it’s time for the next season. As long as you dump the leftover water in your bottle in there everynow and then, or give it a good soaking a couple times a month, you can basically ignore it. Except to enjoy it, of course.

If it bothers you (and its good feng shui) you can pick off the dead flowers as they look bad and this will promote more blooming. It only takes a second and you just toss the dead blooms in the pot – they’ll break down eventually and sort of become plant food. This is called deadheading.

13

Much appreciated, dogzilla.

I am stubbornly working with the gardenia, still – moving it into the direct sun (for the few hours when the porch gets sun), and misting every chance I get. Not dead yet (to coin a phrase).