Being away from my gardenia has allowed me to reflect on my first gardenia experience. A time when I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, a time of innocence really. A time way back in 2016. I believe it was another gift from my mom, from the annual flower and garden show here in February. I believe she sold it on me by promising “the most amazing smelling flowers when it blooms” and indeed it was about to bloom. So I went home with my purchase none the wiser. 3 months later, I had my first bloom. I was so excited I posted this photo to our family shared thread.
Little did I know what was awaiting me. Now I want to note that this was during our first summer in our new house. I had lots of projects and plants to take care of. So forgive me when I say that I let this gardenia go a bit too long with water… a few times. In my defense, I’m a water once-a-week gal! I want my plants to want it when I water them. I prefer to hack my way through things. When I pull up a tree, I just dig it out hopeful that it’ll live on replanting (roots, what roots?). Needless to say, this is not what the gardenia wanted and what the gardenia says, goes.
From there, things went downhill. Quickly. Upon seeing that my gardenia wasn’t responding well to my now frenetic attempts to revive it and it was losing batches of leaves daily, I tossed a hail mary and called my mom. Thank goodness she has a healthy ego, and said to bring it to her house and she will save it. I think I got a call no less than a week later saying it was dead.
Long story short, my mom killed my first gardenia.
Ok, ok the truth is, I was disappointed and sad that I had failed my first houseplant. It made me reevaluate all my skills as a gardener, houseplant enthusiast, and human (alright not that far). That is until my mom told me she had a found a forum of people also in the throws of frantic attempts to save their gardenias. https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2765922/so-you-want-to-grow-a-gardenia-huh
I highly recommend perusing the whole thing but my favorite quote is as follows:
I BOUGHT EIGHT BEAUTIFUL AND FRAGANT GARDENIAS,MYSTERY,FIRST LOVE AND ETC AND AFTER SIX YEARS THESE SIMPLE PLANTS HAS TAUGHT ME HOW TO RELAX.AFTER SIX YEARS I TAKE FOUR VALUIM AND A HALF A GALLON OF SCOTCH AND STAGGER OUT FOR MY NEXT TRY TO KEEP MY ONE PLANT ALIVE.AFTER 3000 HRS ON THE INTERNET,GARDENING BOOKS AND HELP FROM THREE HUNDRED PROFESSIONAL GROWERS AND FOUR GARDENING CDS.HERE WHAT I HAVE LEARN.
THEY LIKE WATER BUT YOU HAVE TO KEEP THE SEMI DRY.THEY LOVED SUN BUT YOU HAVE TO KEEP IN THE SHADE.YOU FEED THEM OFTEN.DISCRIBED AS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN TWO DAYS AND TWO YEARS ONLY ON SUNDAYS WITH A BLUE MOON RISING.THEY LOVED NORTHERN
EXPOSURE IF YOU HAVE THEM ON THE SOUTHERN.THEY LOVE ACID AND IRON UNLESS YOU GIVE IT TO THEM.THEY LOVE TO GROW SPIDER MITES,WHICH YOU CANT SEE,AND APHIDS.
I HAVE FOUND IF YOU BUY OLDER PLANTS THEY TAKE LONGER TO DIE.MY FRIEND SUGGESTED THAT WHEN ONE OF THE SIMPLE PLANTS
WASNT DOING WELL TO MOVE TO THE NORTHERN SUN WHICH A LOT.IT DIED QUICKER.WELL I HAVE TO GO NOW MY FRIENDS IN THE WHITE
JACKETS ARE COMING TO PULL ME AWAY FROM MY BELOVED GARDENIA.
ITS OKAY I HEAR THEY HAVE A SALE ON GARDENIA IN THE NOVELTY
SHOP.
That’s what owning a gardenia will do to you. I’m optimistic for the future of this blog.