I love them, but have never been able to keep them going for very long. How old is the one on the trellis? And what is the exposure for them? Yours are beautiful and I'm tempted to try again.

Very nice plants! I absolutely ADORE the scent of gardenias too. There is just nothing like it. Can you tell us more about what sun exposure your plants get, and how often you water and how often and what you use for fertilizer? We can all probably learn from your success. Your tips and tricks might embolden some of us to give them a try (or another try, depending who you ask, LOL). Thanks for the eye candy! Take care and happy gardening!

I have always heard stories of houses with gardenia hedges with bloom after bloom in AZ. I want that!!!

They were both on a west wall till about 2 weeks ago. They got sun till about noon in those locations. My neighbor has fruit trees which block the sun from heating it up. Now, the trimmed one is back on a patio deck with maybe 3-4 hours of am exposure and the trellis gets about the same. Just moved it over to block the mid day sun from getting to it.

As far as watering...I tend to water about every 2-4 days now. (The bigger pots are checked before watering and are often skipped till the next watering) When summer does hit they are watered every other day with deep waterings. In winter, I water once a week if they need it. I have only used fish emulsion. I use a 5 gallon jug with 3 tbls and 10-20 drops of superthrive for all my potted plants about every month. About 2 weeks ago, I also removed the top 2-3 inches of soil and added fresh soil and topped with wood mulch to retain moisture.

I do NOT stick to this schedule as it is only my guide line. I try to neglect them a bit and I am not afraid to loose them.

The tree was picked up about 4 years ago and did not look like a tree when I got it. I have about 10 blooms on it now.

I also added 3 small gardenia to a small pot in an attempt to make a mini hedge planter. Just for fun. In 2-3 years....I might have it!

Thanks for the nice words and stopping by!

Oh, goodness... I see one in my future now. ;o) Thanks so much for the info. I think...

Great information, thanks for sharing it. Yours really are nice. The few nice ones that I've seen growing long-term in the Valley have been in containers. You're definitely giving me a craving, LOL. Thanks again for the tips and tricks. Happy gadening!

I finally succeeded in in cultivating gardenia's in AZ. But, the heat is raising havoc on the plant now. Thanks for tips here.

Here is a link that might be useful: gardenia in az

Does it have any shade? The one I had most luck with was under shade cloth. However, it eventually gave up the ghost when the heat became unbearable. Still, after seeing someone else's success, I'm motivated to try again.

tomato freak:

It does get some shade and is never exposed to direct sun, but I think it's the heat, not the sun that's tough on the plant. I lost an ornamental variety which was not nearly hearty enough for our heat. This one's been through a transplant and summer already and is well established, but I still have concerns when I see the tender green growth become crispy and brown. I may consider a green shade tarp just the same. Definitely give it try, but be patient with these buggers.

These 3 are about 6 months old. Semi root pruned and added to the pot. I wanted to do a ficus mini hedge, but I figure these are evergreen and might put out blooms as an added bonus if all goes well. I still have some frame work to set up to train it.

Everyone thinks it is a fake plant!

{{gwi:402079}}

I have numerous gardenias blooming in the south-facing front yard of the rental house that I am moving from. They seem to do quite well on irrigation (controlled by someone else).

That is wonderful, I can't wait to try one.

Here is a link that might be useful: I made a blog :)

You have a Kaffir lime tree? I had no idea they would grow here. I wonder if it can be found locally.

But back to gardenias. I can't imagine anything more heavenly than a hedge of blooming gardenias. I wish you luck; I'll stick with just one in a pot. ;o)

This is my Key Lime tree. No Kaffir lime here!
{{gwi:402081}}
Its a work in progress.

I Love my potted gardenias, just one of these days I will attempt the hedge just because I think I can get it right.

I've never done an espalier but your lime tree looks like fun. Please keep us posted as it grows!

Tomatofreak, I do have a kaffir lime, just made a new post for you on that so as not to hijack this thread.

A friend of mine has three gardenias all of which lose their buds once they start showing a little of the white. One is in full sun, one in morning sun, and one afternoon sun. Could this be contributed to underwatering, overwatering, alkaline soil? Any input would be appreciated. We live in Glendale and Peoria respectively.

Not sure if this thread is still alive, but I can comment on the last postings cause I after years have had one thing that works with my gardenia - I keep it potted and water everyday. The pot sits in a clear 4" high saucer which fills up after watering. I suspect the successful blooms I had this year are a result of the increased humidity provided by the water in the saucer. And it seems a common element of this thread is to keep the plants potted.

I have a gardenia in the ground in my back yard and it's about 3 years old. I almost never water it because it's in a spot that takes weeks to dry out fully. It gets a lot of reflected sun but almost no direct sun until the middle of summer. It blooms on it now but the plant is a little leggy since it doesn't get a lot of sun. I made 4 clones of it this year so I'll be trying them in different spots.

"Weeks to dry out"? For many of us in the Phoenix area, that would be highly unusual.

It might be a slight exaggeration but it has lots of mulch around the area and it's in full shade except for 1 part of the summer. When I say fully dry out I mean even below the surface. The first year I watered it about once a week during the summer and it was fine with that (if I remember correctly, it did rain a lot that year). My container gardenias get water every day through the summer.