Is there any special treatment that I should be giving my gardenia.
The leaves are turning yellow. The flower buds were on the plant when
I bought it a month ago and they are still tightly closed and the
small "petals" around the bud are turning yellow.

Lori

gardenias are picky plants that need even moisture and cannot stand to dry out
even a little. Give them some water. Also, check the undersides of the leaves
for spider mites, they love gardenias. If it is planted in the ground, they
also prefer slightly acidic soil like most other broadleaf evergreens.

Toad

Gardenia's are acid loving plants. Put a handful of Holly Tone fertilizer
and a handful of Blood Meal (Nitrogen) around the bush above the root ball.
You should see some improvement in a couple of weeks. Yellowing could be
from two things. Not enough nutrients, mainly nitrogen or too much water
standing at the roots. I used to see yellowing on my gardenia every spring.
I added the amendments listed above and they always responded wonderfully.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina
wrote in message
...
Is there any special treatment that I should be giving my gardenia.
The leaves are turning yellow. The flower buds were on the plant when
I bought it a month ago and they are still tightly closed and the
small "petals" around the bud are turning yellow.

Lori

wrote in message ...
Is there any special treatment that I should be giving my gardenia.
The leaves are turning yellow. The flower buds were on the plant when
I bought it a month ago and they are still tightly closed and the
small "petals" around the bud are turning yellow.

I'm just about at the point where I think gardenias are a crap shoot.
I've followed the advice here and at numerous Web sites. It seems to
me that gardenias are extremely picky - if you plant one and it does
well, if you buy another from the same source and plant it in the same
conditions it probably won't do well, nurturing be damned.

The ones that I have that do well do FANTASTICALLY well. The others?
They just kinda croak. Too bad. Successful gardenias are the most
wonderful shrubs God has invented.

wrote in message
...
Is there any special treatment that I should be giving my gardenia.
The leaves are turning yellow. The flower buds were on the plant when
I bought it a month ago and they are still tightly closed and the
small "petals" around the bud are turning yellow.

I had a scale problem cured with a systemic insecticide. Shows up as bumps
under leaves. Also spider mites but can keep down by misting.
Frank