New Gardenia

Yesterday i dug a fairly old Gardenia [What i thought to be azelea] from a mate's place. It was a one time offer which was ummmed and ahhhed about for so long i didnt wanna miss the chance to dig it...only problem it has to be dug on the hottest day on record lol

So i waited until about 10pm and lifted it, though and behold even with a decent drink before hand, all the soil crumbled away from the roots. Being late at night i misted the roots and bagged them up and popped it away safely. First thing this morning i went to B*nnings and could only find osmocote's azelea mix and 10mm scoria, returned home found a styro box big enough to accomodate all the roots.

Was told my mate had tried everything to kill this tree and year after year it came back fighting, to which i said: "AWESOME!"


Did i mention 2 root balls???



Original trunk on the left, hacked at ground level, years of neglect the trunk laid over and shot out a whole new system of roots, added bonus.




For the record the flowers were white, although wilted from a 40.c day. Plans for the tree are to retain as much of the original branches and dead wood as possible, although it'll be refined to a more pleasing aesthetic.

My method of training, once the tree has recovered and is back in full swing [hopefully] next growing season, is to basically to use palm fiber to bring the lanky trunks together then clip and grow, clip and grow.














Out of the sun and wind, into recovery now its time to administer some serious after care.



Here is my idea of what id like this gardenia to look like after 10-20 yrs worth of patient work.





Does anyone here keep flowering bonsai and can offer me some tips on styling and general husbandry concerning these trees?

For some reason pics are cut in half, right click then open in new tab to see them in their entirety.

That's Gardenia radicans, dwarf gardenia. Great bonsai material, treat it as you would an azalea. You can cut them back hard and they'll pop new growth easily. Glad to see you washed the soil from the roots too.

They make great small/shohin bonsai. Fiona has a nice example in her gallery. Here on the gulf coast (usa) nematodes have recently become a major problem so it's not easy to find good, old, healthy examples in gardens anymore. For years I had a large one as a cascade and watched it slowly decline. I thought it was rootbound and needed fresh soil and/or better fertilizer. When I went to repot it I found just the opposite - no roots! It had been an old nursery stock plant and never in the ground. I'm not sure how the nematodes got to it but they did!

Russell Coker wrote:

That's Gardenia radicans, dwarf gardenia. Great bonsai material, treat it as you would an azalea. You can cut them back hard and they'll pop new growth easily. Glad to see you washed the soil from the roots too.

They make great small/shohin bonsai. Fiona has a nice example in her gallery. Here on the gulf coast (usa) nematodes have recently become a major problem so it's not easy to find good, old, healthy examples in gardens anymore. For years I had a large one as a cascade and watched it slowly decline. I thought it was rootbound and needed fresh soil and/or better fertilizer. When I went to repot it I found just the opposite - no roots! It had been an old nursery stock plant and never in the ground. I'm not sure how the nematodes got to it but they did!

Hi Russell,

Thank you for the i.d and tips. Im sorry to hear about the nematodes, the word makes me cringe as i used to breed native inverts ie scorpions and tarantulas, and they are a serious threat to them as well
. Ill be sure to check the soil on next repot to make sure there arent any present grubs and monitor the roots for damage or wilting.

For now your roots look clean to me, and the foliage has a good color. The roots on mine had become fat and bumpy, and there were no fine feeder roots. We've had to stop using this as a landscape plant here. Over the course of a few months you can watch the nematodes move though a planting of radicans. The foliage thins and the plants yellow. They look like they are starving, and since they have no roots I guess they are!

Last spring, to my horror, I discovered the same thing with my big Malpighia. The symptoms were the same but I never suspected nematodes. I contacted Jose Luis and he confirmed that Malpighias are very prone to nematodes too. He suggested adding dried shrimp, those little ones used for fish food that you find at the pet stores, to the soil mix. The plant still looks bad, but it's alive. Hopefully I'll see some recovering this summer. Something you may want to consider.

So far, radicans seems to be the only gardenia that has this problem.

R

Great score mate. I treat gardenia like any tropical & do root work in the heat so you should be fine with collecting now. With this current heat wave just make sure to keep the water up to it & mist as often as possible.

Around here you will have to watch out for curl grub, they seem to really like gardenia & I have lost a couple to them. A layer of coarse sharp gravel over the surface seems to deter them from laying eggs in the pot.

Russell Coker wrote:

For now your roots look clean to me, and the foliage has a good color. The roots on mine had become fat and bumpy, and there were no fine feeder roots. We've had to stop using this as a landscape plant here. Over the course of a few months you can watch the nematodes move though a planting of radicans. The foliage thins and the plants yellow. They look like they are starving, and since they have no roots I guess they are!

Last spring, to my horror, I discovered the same thing with my big Malpighia. The symptoms were the same but I never suspected nematodes. I contacted Jose Luis and he confirmed that Malpighias are very prone to nematodes too. He suggested adding dried shrimp, those little ones used for fish food that you find at the pet stores, to the soil mix. The plant still looks bad, but it's alive. Hopefully I'll see some recovering this summer. Something you may want to consider.

So far, radicans seems to be the only gardenia that has this problem.

R

Thanks for the tip Russel if i suspect thats the case with this tree, ie yellowing/sparse/under nourished foliage I'll be sure to try out the dry shrimp technique.

MattA wrote:Great score mate. I treat gardenia like any tropical & do root work in the heat so you should be fine with collecting now. With this current heat wave just make sure to keep the water up to it & mist as often as possible.

Around here you will have to watch out for curl grub, they seem to really like gardenia & I have lost a couple to them. A layer of coarse sharp gravel over the surface seems to deter them from laying eggs in the pot.

G'day Matty,

Good to see you posting again. Thanks for the tip, i was a bit worried that the original soil crumbled away but glad in one respect because it seems that Radicans are susceptible to all manner of dirty grubs munchy wunching on the finer roots. Ill be sure to add that layer of gravel, any deterrence is a good one. At the moment the tree sits on the western side of our house on a bed of agrigate so hopefully thatll keep them at bay.

Cheers Drew.