Yes, don't go over board on the fertilizer! 8 weeks isn't nearly long enough for a plant to become established, even a small one. So.....be patient, and conservative. Fertilizer shouldn't be used as 'medicine'. ;-)

You have a nice layer of organic mulch down, right? You want to keep those roots cool throughout the summer.

Rhizo 1:

This was a decent sized plant when I got it as it was in a 5 gallon container. I used a Mantis tiller to chew up the red clay and I added lots of leaf compost, pine fines, uncomposted leaves, perlite, coarse sand and a bit of potting soil that was tilled up with the red clay. I dug the hole 3x as wide as the 5 gallon container and deeper, but still mounded the gardenia up to have good drainage. I covered the area with a 5 inch layer of cypress bark mulch with a top layer of pine straw. I intially fertlized it with some Miracide and some Miracle Gro-Shake 'N Feed for Camellias, Azaleas and Rhodendrons formula. I have two Windmill Palms that give it some shade and protection from the wind. I will not overfertilize and will watch for pests. Infact, I did find a few aphids so I zapped them with horticultural soap which seemed to do the trick. I will continue to watch its progress as the last two I planted last year seemed to get scorched from too much sun.