Gardenia

kerash

Hi, I'm trying to delve into gardening/keeping plants from dying this year, so this is my new favourite forum:p

So I bought a gardenia in Aldi, a lovely healthy looking plant. Now I need to know essential care tips and when/how should I re-pot it? It's in a small container at the mo.

Thanks in advance

Ellechim

Hiya - the trick to gardenias is to keep them in a sunny position but not direct sunlight, moist but not soaked. They don't like wet roots.

Don't repot until you can see some roots coming out from the bottom.

I used to have one of these, I kept it in a sunny room, at the back of the room and it thrived, untiL I forgot to water it for quite a while :-(

Enjoy, I love the fragrance, they are one of my favourites.

M

The Sweeper

They like it mild, moist and humid, so make sure it has good protection from frost and cold. It's generally believed that Gardenias need acidic soil to grow - like azaleas and camellias - but they also thrive in extremely rich soil. You can get good acidity in soil by using a lot of organic matter, hence perhaps why Gardenias do so well in good soil.

They're a warm climate plant, but they need protection from hot afternoon sun. I'm not sure if you get afternoon sun that's hot enough to really damage them in Ireland, so it might do just fine inside a window that gets a lot of light as long as you remember to keep the soil moist.

They'll do nicely in a pot for quite some time as long as you use the best quality potting mix you can, and remember that the best potting mixes only last about a year (in terms of the nutrients available to the plant) so after a year you need to be feeding regularly, or repotting. Use a good quality all purpose plant food and always stick to the directions on the pack you've bought.

kerash

There is a kind of mould growing on top of the clay, why is that happening?
A few leaves have yellowed also, but it's ready to flower so that's good I think!
I'm hoping to plant it outside when it's finished flowering, is this a good idea?