You could give us pictures. :)

I'd like to see one of your bougainvilla. I've had no luck growing those indoors.

what type of gardenia are you hoping to get for that spot? How many hours of direct sunlight will it get?

I've got quite a few gardenias growing indoors. And most under growlights (16hours a day).

The spider mites? ... best to set up a spray routine - neem oil with water, once or twice a week over the leaves are a great preventative to bigger issues once you start putting a large quantity of plants in close proximity to each other. Do you have any fans running to circulate the air in that tiny room? or is it just high humidity only?

Pictures please. :)
and welcome.

-Rose

Hi again

I can post pictures hopefully today. But i cant at the moment. I don't use my computer that much, it would certainly help if i could access this website with my phone, does this forum perchance have an app or a mobile website?

direct sunlight, well pretty much all morning my room is blasted to hell and back with sunlight. but in the evening its all pretty mild. I know that gardenias prefer morning sun, so i hope this is a good thing.
I would say, and im not exactly sure so i am really lowballing here, but it must be at least 6 hours. up to and as much as 10 hours of direct sunlight can be expected for this spot, but no more. It always starts way before i wake up, so i never really know, but its always very early in the morning and stops at about noon but is dwindling by about 10am.
Now back to the gardenia, the biggest thing is scent. The more of that precious gardenia smell the merrier. I hadnt thought about the idea that there might be different varieties, i only know of 2 gardenia types, the ones which flower those huge rose-like, scented flowers, and the ones which have a smaller, more traditional flower with much less petals, but still lots of scent. I suppose whichever is easier to keep. It should be noted i cant have a huge gardenia bush in here, so smaller is better although i am much more than willing to do lots of trimming and pruning to compact growth.

Not much circulation, I have 3 fans though, 1 small usb powered, 1 big tower, and a dyson bladeless only like inches from this spot so i can use them if need be.

pic

several month old pic of boug, has been repotted

ok, so what is that first plant you posted?

I have the hardy gardenia, and after the first round of blooming, I haven't been able to convince it to keep its buds for a second bloom. I have a lot better luck with blooms on the african gardenia - it's quite a bloom powerhouse - every other week, it gives me a few blossoms. (and I'm sure she'd do even better if I were more regular with fertilizing).

There's a ton of options though - Tahitian gardenia, dwarf gardenia (I'm not having much luck with that one, currently), the african, the butterfly, and a whole lot of others. - you can see the variety from looking at the logees website. (I'd bought most of mine there - they come small, but extremely healthy - and it's up to the shopper to grow them big.)

That plant in the picture is the aeoneum decorum

it is not a rare plant in general, BUT this 1 is very rare. I am told it has some sort of mutation going on with its stem, which in turn has caused it to give the plant the look of intense age, and also the stem if you havent noticed is like an angled sheet of thick paper, its 1/16 inch thick and 10 inches across. Here's the fun part - I got it for free at Lowe's, it was in very poor shape and a customer turn in, only 1 there.

Ok, its official - I will get the African Gardenia

But i need to know something real quick - Is it absolutely necessary to water this gardenia using acidic water? And if so, my tap is realtively hard, do i need to do anything to it or can i leave it as-is? My tapwater ph is slightly above neutral, its about 7.2. Btw i have pretty good water here, its supposed to be the best in the area.

Just purchased my African gardenia, couldn't wait any longer. Its being shipped from Connecticut. I am also closing a deal on some other plants. :)

I just found a 60 watt clamp fluorescent light I just set it up and for now its over the bougainvillea, but in the future i want it to help the gardenia with acclimation considering it will be very stressed going across the united states in a pitch black box.

You will love the African. You don't have to stress over the acid... Water is good. Just fertilize regularly, and every so often do a flush for accumulated salts. When you repot, make sure that you make a mix that doesn't drown her. She likes lots of light. I have mine under 16+ hours lights, but back row(indirect) south window, too. (24w, t5 ho flourescent) . Mike Meyer told me that a little vinegar helps in the water. But I haven't had need to use that yet.

I ordered more plants from logees, yesterday too. It takes them a while to package and ship, but the plants are always beautiful on arrival. You'll get a tracking number when it ships.

That plant is cool, and to think you found it at lowes. I need to visit lowes more regularly. But the one time I went to mine, I hadn't been impressed.

Im going to see if i can post some new boug pictures now, and im going to try it with my dslr camera, it takes some nice pics. uploading shortly

Bougainvllea Pics taken today

More boug

This is 1 of my orchids

This is that same orchid

This is one of my pothos's growing hydroponically. This was a tiny cutting with only 1 leaf less than 4 months ago. This has been my most successful cutting so far. However, it appears to be getting too much light in the front because the front leaves are very pale, probably the plant trying to reduce the amount of light the leaves absorb, while the leaves in the back of the plant are a dark green, the difference in colored leaves for 1 plant is quite dramatic.

These are the succulent cuttings from the garden. This experiment has been very successful so far, they have already rooted in hardly a week without using rooting hormone, and are growing leaves and stem at a rapid rate now. This picture was taken right after i misted them.

I just started another experiment today. I just found out that my parents have an overgrown Jasmine vine growing in their yard, I googled how to root jasmine cuttings and here i am with 10 cuttings 9 are in 2 different water vases, 1 in soil. We will see what happens and if they will root. I didnt use rooting hormone but i have done this before with my pothos, and having over a 90% success rate with cuttings for the pothos in water, i thought i'd give this a try. My succulents only took about 5-6 days to root in soil, my pothos took an average of 10 days to root in water, about how long you think it would take a healthy, blooming bunch of jasmine cuttings to root in water?

Im thinking 2 weeks just because water always seems to take longer and jasmine is much more finicky indoors than pothos.

I just found what looks like little clear eggs on some of the leaves. And a small spider web... should i trash them and start over?

I just added a humidifier to this room. I realized my bougainvillea leaves are getting brown tips. I guess the tanks werent giving off as much humidity as i thought. I also bought a second grow light and im still the leading bidder for that 23 year old adenium on ebay. If all goes well it will be in my posesion by next Friday :). The African Gardenia shipped this morning and should be here by this Saturday. Can't wait. Im buying the soil and pot for it today, im gonnna use a mix of sand, perlite, and common cactus soil for the adenium.

You don't have to throw out the cuttings. Wash the leaves with a light solution of dish soap and water. and then put the stems in water and watch to see if you see any more infestation over the course of the next few days.

Be careful, my dear - it's very easy to go from owning a few plants to hoarding... Last year at this time, I had 5 plants ... now I have about 50 of them. :)

How easy it happens...

This is my African Gardenia - look at the buds on her. About every 2 to 3 weeks she sprouts a new set. For a small plant (4" pot) - she's very happy. :)

I'm sure you'll love yours.

Hi i have just read online that a big problem with gardenias is bud blast, which is when the flower buds drop because of a lack of difference in temperature between day and night. is this something i need to pay attention to with the african gardenia, because unfortunetly my room has little to no difference in temp at night and day.

uh... I wouldn't know the answer to this. As it warms up, I can't imagine that there's much temp fluctuation in the south for gardenias - and yet they're southern plants, and bloom regularly down there.

Adenium guy, you seem to worry alot - you need a relaxation pill - you already bought the plant - let it arrive and enjoy it. What will be will be. If you notice bud drop - then we'll worry. Until it happens - no stress over what hasn't happened.

I have been incredibly surprised with this bougainvillea vine over the past week. Its growing much faster than i could have ever anticipated. I would not be surprised at all at this rate if i get flower buds in the next 5-10 days. I've never seen such growth in such a short time on any houseplant. In the last 5 days its gotten over 18 inches longer, grown over 40 more leaves, all of which are now a vibrant glossy green. Keeping in mind this is a small plant and its only in a 5 inch pot. I dont even recognize the pictures i took and posted on here from Saturday. Think of those pics above only completely covered from head to tail in leaves.

Wow they sure are slow with shipping. Hopefully they will have it shipped by this coming Tuesday. Its been 8 days already since i ordered.

Hi, i have 1 quick concern about this african gardenia plant. So im reading that it is in fact not a true gardenia, but is a distant relative. This is not too much of a concern but i have now read multiple accounts from reviewers on the internet that the scent is nothing like a true gardenia? Since you have had yours flower, can you comment on this? I dont need identical scent, but if its not, what does it remind you of? How strong is the scent?

I have always wanted an african gardenia. Im still holding out because I dont have the space for anymore new plant. Adenium guy, post pic when yours gets home =)

I just received my African Gardenia an hour ago from Logees 2.5" pot!
Surprise! Its covered from head to toe in buds! We will see if they survive. Plant appears very healthy, has an exceptional root system and nice dark foliage.

I just received my African Gardenia an hour ago from Logees 2.5" pot!
Surprise! Its covered from head to toe in buds! We will see if they survive. Plant appears very healthy, has an exceptional root system and nice dark foliage.

Sounds like you've stopped worrying and you now like it, Adeniumguy. :)

Logees, for all that the shipping process is slow and the plants a bit small - has good healthy plants. Congratulations on your new plant. :)

Your logees order came a lot faster than mine did . :( I evidently didn't pay attention for the order - a check box that said "don't mail all at once - for when an item was backordered" ... and, my package is in the mail now.

It should arrive between tonight and tomorrow, I think.

It looks healthy but the soil is constantly reading wet, and has for three weeks. Prior to that I was watering at least a gallon and a half of water once a week. The soil seems too wet to me? So I decided to wait until the meter went down at least half way. Still waiting. Should I repot? Water it anyway?

I bought my gardenia a year ago June. It has bloomed at least once. I have changed my feeding and watering over the year and a half based on what seemed to be happening and what I have read on this site.

My gardenia is a year and a half old. After reading much about the care of gardenias on this site I changed my watering habit. previously I watered it once a week with 1 1/2 gallons of water. In testing the soil, I see that it is very wet. So I decided to wait until the meter was at least down halfway. That was three weeks ago, Now I don't know what to do. Repot it? go ahead and water it? or wait? Here is a picture. It is in a south facing window under a grow light for 14 hours a day.