Gardenia ~ Full sun, sandy soil, no fert but blooming

11 years ago

I have a few gardenias in my courtyard. From barely one foot tall baby planted this year to 4ft matured ones. They are all blooming, the matured one has more than 30 flowers and perfuming the courtyard. How did that happened? They were planted in very sandy soil, haven't been fertilized for years, under full desert sun and water every 3 days or so. All that in the very hot socal desert near Palm Springs. 105F today.

And yet, in my San Francisco Bay Area home (zone 9), I followed the conventional wisdom of planting them with only morning sun in highly amended soil with lots of organic matter, fert twice to three times a year. Guess what? they haven't bloomed for years.

What gives?

Comments (3)

User
11 years ago
toffee,
Gardenias LOVE sandy soil.
They really must have excellent drainage.
I have extremely sandy soil and I mulch them because
there is litle water retention in the soil and they grow
great and flower. I don't fertilize them much at all, some I don't even fertilize at all, they are in woods.
I am glad you are pleased with your gardenias, the most important thing I would think is to not change anything.
LOL!
toffee-el
Original Author
11 years ago
I am not planning any changes. But I am just amazed at the blooms and the 'not by the book' conditions. Thought I share with fellow gardenia lovers.

It seems like heat, regular watering and excellent drainage are the keys. Sun is important, the one that gets more sun blooms more than the one few feet from it but gets 4 hours less sun.
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gardenofeden777
11 years ago
Hi, I also have one of mine in full sun. I mean 100% full blazing middle of the yard sun and my soil is red clay. But I do fertilize it. It blooms really well and is about 4' tall now planted 5 years ago. I also have a Camelia under the same circumstances planted 3 years ago and doing fantastic! I will say that neither one was very happy until I started fertilizing, I use Azalea/Rhodo. fert. When there foliage gets a wee bit yellow I apply fert. again. Rena'