Recently planted gardenias or recently purchased ones for the inside home tend to lose buds because the environmental conditions in the nursery vary greatly from those outside/inside your home. As you will see, they are incredibly picky regarding bud formation. They will bloom in the spring and, depending on your weather, they will bloom again during the Fall. I once had them bloom during the spring, summer and Fall. But I usually only expect spring bloomage. If I get "extras", I consider myself lucky.

Proper temperatures are necessary to force gardenia into bloom. No flower buds set at night temperatures above 65 degrees. Night temperature above 65 degrees causes drop of buds already formed. Ideal forcing temperatures are 65 to 70 degrees during the day and 60 to 62 degrees at night. The flowering response requires 14 hour nights. The flower buds can drop due to low humidity or a sudden environmental change. Flower buds fail to form if day temperatures are higher than 70 or night temperatures are less than 60 degrees. High soil pH can also causes lack of flower bud formation (as well as chlorosis. Leaf drop, possibly delayed, can be caused by cold drafts, improper watering, excessive fertilization, or several consecutive dark cloudy days.

Fertilize monthly between Spring and Fall (stop around early September?). And yes, you can fertilize when it has flower buds if it is during the time frame above.

Luis

i doubt you will get any flowers this year. if happy, it will begin to form buds for next year as it grows through the summer.
in my area, most can be predicted to bloom around memorial day. 'daisy' and 'august beauty' may be a couple of weeks earlier. 'mystery' is almost like clockwork, blooming at that time.
the only one of these that will rebloom for me is
'august beauty', producing a lesser flush in late summer to early fall. all of these are planted outdoors and remain there yearround.

Touch base with your friend regarding watering, fertilizer and winter storage issues for container plants. Since she already has experience, she can be an invaluable source of help.

As picky as gardenias are, I find that they can be counted to bloom for sure in the Spring once they have established their root system and provided environmental factors do not get in the way. For example: the first year I planted a bunch of August Beauties, a late cold spell killed the flower buds and I got zippo flowers; last year we had a bad winter that killed all growth above the ground. But, ah, get a wiff of their scent and you end up saying it was worth it. Good luck!

I had really good luck - I thought mine were dying off but after I started remembering to water them regulalry (every other day I pour some water on them) they perked right up.

We just got ours a month or so ago. We had one generic $3 walmart version flower with it's one bud the week after we planted it. It looks to be getting more buds on it now too. Our big monrovia first love still in it's pot has put out 4 or 5 flowers, and this am it looked like 3 more are getting ready to open. It's just sitting out by our back fence, I put some sluggo on it and pour water on it every couple of days. We do have one other small monrovia that dropped buds - but that poor guy got planted where he gets ALOT of direct noon day sun.

I expected them to die off, but got them for my wife anyway - but apparenly they love the San Diego "June gloom" weather we've been having lately.

There are so many varieties of Gardenia's and they bloom in different seasons and at defferent lengths.
I have a Tahitian "Tiate" Gardena that has been blooming since early summer and has not stopped, its still going.
I have some "Amy Yoshioka's" that should bloom by December and I cant wait for those to bloom, my newly aquired plants have grown to 6 feet already.
And my prized possession is my "Na'u", a native hawaiian Gardenia that should bloom in spring. Very tempermental plant that one. They all love direct sun and are taking off in growth. I will be getting another native hawaiian Gardenia called "Kula" Gardenia which is white, yellow and orange. The scent like my Na'u has the strong scent of gardenia's but with the essence of sweet coconut oil.
BTW, my Veitchii Gardenia's just finished its season, but am hoping it will have another bloom in Dec, my neighbor said it happens often.

Hello,
I just got two one gallon August Beauty Gardenias. These are my first ever Gardenias and I have them in a part Sun location. I thought I would keep them in pots till early Fall and then transplant to a raised bed in the same location. When I put them into pots it slipped my mind that they can get 5ft tall. So I thought they may be happier I raised beds. My question is will this idea work or should I get them into their permanent bed now and how much sun do they need to bloom?

Itzy,
You can plant them in their raised beds now, but personally, I would wait til fall, only to avoid the stress of transfering them in the heat.
They will be fine outside in the pots til the fall.
Just dig them into the raised bed in their pots, it will really improve the drainage for them.
Just remember to mulch real good when you transfer them for the winter,
They are very hardy shrubs.
It takes about 10 years for them to get 5 feet tall. THey are not quick growers.
I don't know what zone you are in, but if you live in zone 7, transfer them now. Give them time to root in before the winter.
If you live in zone 8 and above, you can wait til fall.
Mulch, Mulch and Mulch.

I have Miami Supremes by my front door. They just got done blooming. They are lovely but I wonder about the growth rate. They get big and are fast growers from what I read. I have other areas on the property that can accommodate a large shrub and am considering moving them and getting a slower growing variety. Or I can just keep pruning them back each year - will that hurt them? Suggestions?

Well that it..I am done with buying them..lol

I could never get the right temps even if I tried...

Thank you!

MIke