I had posted on another thread on how I have actually kept my gardenia alive, and (gasp) actually got it to bud without having to do any altar building or sacrificing animals for it.

So far this has kept it alive and happy and actually growing for me. I got a fortunatia (sp?) which was lived. I had bought an african 'hardy gardenia' and it kicked the bucket..BUT I had kept it in a plastic pot which I don't think it liked, and didn't put it in the set up like I did with the fortunatia.

You will need:

A terra cotta pot (not too big, just the 'next size up')

6 inches of old jeans material (I used the part from the cuff end of the leg)

a large terra cotta bottom tray

small gravel or stones

for the potting soil:

1/3 coarse sand

1/3 peat

1/3 potting soil

(mix thoroughly)

Put the jeans material thru the drainage hole, and have it sticking into the pot about 4 inches. Have two inches or less stick out of the pot hole at the bottom. Add the potting soil mix and have the jeans material so that it's up into the soil close to where the plant roots will be, and not bunched down at the bottom of the pot. Place plant in pot, tamp down. Take bottom tray and fill with gravel. If you can, make a hole in the middle of the gravel so the jeans can stick down into the bottom of the tray, but the gravel still supports the bottom of the pot, so it stays level. You should top water at least once so your new plant gets settled into it's new pot.

If your gardenia is in the process of forming buds, do not fertilize, or the buds may turn brown and drop off.

I fertilize it after the flowers are done blooming with some algoflash and occasionally water it with a used tea bag in the watering can.

Last year in the summer my gardenia had buds but they were not opening at all! Some smart person on this forum advised me to move it where it got a bit more sunlight, and it worked!