Thursday, November 19, 2009

Gardenia information

Found this in the Orlando paper..... Dave

Gardenia is already thinking of spring

Q: My gardenia plant has grown quite tall and is too wide for the walkway. Can I cut it back this fall? Also what should I do about the yellow leaves?

A: Gardenias have started to form their flower buds for spring. If you give them a trimming now, you might lose the attractive flowers for a year. Also, a fall pruning is going to encourage new growths that could be affected by cold winter weather. Perhaps you can trim off a few limbs so you can use the path and delay major pruning until after the spring bloom.

Try a fall feeding to regreen your gardenia foliage. The plants are heavy feeders and need three to four fertilizer applications a year. Sometimes, soils are missing adequate magnesium for plant growth. If a regular fertilizer does not help, give the plants an application of magnesium sulfate. This is often sold as Epsom salts and can be applied under the plants following label instructions.

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