Gardenia Indoor

If you want to successfully grow your gardenia indoors, you'll need to make sure all of its needs are met. It can be tricky, but if you're careful you will be rewarded with a gorgeous plant with intoxicating blooms that fill your home with its perfume.

Slideshow:Gardenia Varieties

Typically, gardenias are grown as a shrub in areas with warm, temperate weather. They thrive outdoors somewhere between zones 8 through 10, depending on the variety. Gardenias like sun but may not do well outside in the full, hot sun all day. However, when they get a bit of shade during the hottest part of the day, they are quite happy.

If you are not fortunate enough to live in these zones, you will have to resort to growing your gardenia indoors. Don't feel bad though; many people find that indoors is the best way to enjoy these amazing flowers.

It is essential that your specimen be in excellent health. Don't buy a sad looking gardenia thinking you can nurse it back to health. It isn't likely to work and you'll just be even more frustrated. Think about it: making a healthy gardenia bloom is a challenge; reviving a sick one is close to impossible. Purchase from a reputable source so you are assured of getting a nice healthy plant. Here are a few places to try:

• ProFlowers will send healthy gorgeous gardenias to your home. The hard part is picking one.
• FTD is also a wonderful source for lovely houseplants, including gardenias.
• Seed catalogs such as Gurney's or Jackson & Perkins are also excellent resources.

Once you have made your selection, it is time to take care of your gardenia indoor specimen so it will thrive and provide you with season after season of glorious flowers. Keep in mind, your gardenia needs humidity. This, however, does not mean that you should spray the leaves with water. Doing so can cause one of the most common of gardenia problems--sooty mold. Wet leaves encourage fungal growth. Fungal growth is not pretty. Instead, you should place the pot in a tray filled with small pebbles and water. The water will evaporate and provide the humidity your gardenia wants without making the leaves wet. Be sure to refill with water as needed so your plant does not dry out.

The soil should be kept moist as well, but not soggy. As a rule, if you stick your finger into the top inch of soil and it feels dry, you should water your plant. If that top inch is moist, hold off on watering for another day or so.

Speaking of soil, your gardenia will need rich, well drained soil. Try an organic potting soil for the healthiest plants. The soil needs to be a bit acidic for best results. Get a soil tester kit and check it. The best soil for gardenias should have a pH between 5 and 6.

If the soil is lacking in acidity, there are a few things you can do. Some gardeners swear by adding pickle juice to their gardenia soil. Vinegar may work just as well, just be sure it is diluted in water because vinegar can kill plants and is often used as a natural herbicide to get rid of weeds. Dilute at a ratio of one cup vinegar or pickle juice to one gallon of water and use it to water your gardenias once a month. You can also use a product called Miracid to keep the soil at the right acidity for your acid-loving houseplants.

One thing to keep in mind if you have just purchased your gardenia is that is is probably in the correct soil already. It isn't a good idea to repot a new gardenia because it will probably go into shock and drop all its buds. Gardenias do best if they are slightly root-bound so there is really no need to repot it unless you see roots coming out of the top of the plant. If you don't like the pot it is in, just place it inside a slightly larger, decorative pot.

The next thing you'll need to consider is the location of your gardenia. Gardenia indoors will need more bright light than it may be necessary outdoors. While an outdoor gardenia shoul be placed somewhere that it can get some shade during the hottest part of the day, inside your gardenia will want full sun.

The most important thing to consider is the temperature where you place your gardenia. In order to make it bloom, you'll need to provide it with temperatures around 65 to 70 degrees during the day and 60 to 62 at night. If it's winter and you like to keep your house warmer than 70 degrees, try to find a room that can be kept a little cooler than the rest of the house. Failure to provide the right temperatures results in failure to form buds. Which, of course, means failure to have those beautiful blooms you want so badly.

So, in a nutshell, you need to provide your gardenia indoor plant with some very specific things.

• Humidity
• Bright light
• Moist, acidic soil
• Proper temperatures

Gardenias also benefit from fertilizer occasionally. This is especially true indoors where soil easily becomes lifeless in a pot. Miracid is an ideal fertilizer and should be applied every two to four weeks April through November. If you elect to prune your gardenia to keep it tidy indoors, do so only right after blooming. Pruning at the wrong time will eliminate these blooms that you are working so hard for. Learn more on these subjects by reading Fertilizer for Gardenias, Pruning Gardenias and Gardenia Pruning.

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