need advice on Gardenia plant care.

Question

Hi; We live in Fresno, CA. We planted a couple Gardenia plants by our front door. They have grown to about 3.5 ft tall and have been consistently trimmed by our gardener(who is great at trimming the lawn, raking etc but knows nothing about horticulture-our fault) and it has not bloomed for a couple years now...if it does, it's just a couple and then seems to go dormant. We have discontinued the trimming for now. It hasn't been fed at all but has a root feed water system we installed and it seem to be working fine. Every once in a while; by yours truly, it is watered by hand. What I need is instructions on how to properly care for this gorgeous plant so that it thrives like God intended. The internet is so chock full of ads these days that it is very difficult to find exactly what one needs because to the detours that are put up on search engines. Anyway, we don't even know what fertilizer it needs. I haven't found any store that have knowledgeable personnel and the nearest nursery has closed it's doors because of these economic times we are in. Thank in advance for any help you can provide. Regards. vs  [email protected]

Answer 1

Ph should be 5-6, add sulfur to maintain, keep mulched, 1" water each week, feed often to maintain PH, trim SPRING only to shape, dead head dead flowers use insecticidial soap for bugs, cover in heavy winds and hard freeze.  You are lucky to have these beautiful plants outside.  In NE PA there are inside plants and out only for the summer months and back inside on nights in the low 40's............good luck with this beautiful plant.