BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Landscaping Yellow Leaves on Gardenia?

I have a huge gardenia bush (it's over 6 ft tall) and alot of its leaves have turned yellow. The bush was here when we bought the house over 12 years ago and I don't recall this happening before. The one in the back yard is smaller, but doesn't have any yellow leaves. Any suggestions? This is one of my favorite flowers and I don't want to loose this bush. We haven't trimmed it in over a year and we've had plenty of rain.

I also want to transplant the smaller one in the backyard. It's about 4 ft tall. Does anyone know the best time to transplant a full size gardenia?
Thanks for any help

Some of the leaves on my gardenia are turning yellow this year too.

I think it's done it before - it's almost like it's thinning itself out.

I don't have a clue what's happening.

Thanks Sharon,
Although we don't know what is causing this, at least I know your bushes have survived this yellowing. That eases my concerns quite a bit.

I had a row of gardenias down the western side of my house when I lived in FL. They were incredibly healthy and easy to care for which hasn't been my experience with gardenias in the past. Their leaves would occasionally turn yellow, not on the entire bush just around the bottom or sprinkled throughout and then would fall off. Since I had seen this with my other bushes and they seemed happy otherwise I just left them and they seemed fine.

If you've had a lot of rain, the yellow leaves can be caused by too much water. Since the bush has been there for quite some time and has always seemed happy I wouldn't worry too much about it. Gardenias kind of seem to go through fazes. Next month it could look beautiful. Maybe lay off any suplimental watering for a bit unless the leaves start to droop.

I would move your gardenia bush in the fall. Then it will have all winter to settle in and develop new root growth without the hot sun baking on it. Dig up the largest root ball possible.

You can start to prepare the bush for being moved by cutting some of it's roots where it will be dug up. Decide how big of a root ball you can move and then take a sharp shovel and cut down into the soil severing a root or two along the circle where you'll dig the bush out. Every month or so do this in one or two places depending on the size of the root ball you're digging out. Eventually you'll have a circle cut around the bush and the bush will be taking this time to develop new roots within the circle. Keep the bush well watered while you're doing this.

I would also avoid fertilizing the bush this summer. That would encourage it to develop top growth rather than roots, which isn't what you'd want if you're relocating it in the fall.

Gardenias need very acid soil, and if their soil gets too alkaline their leaves will fade and yellow. This can happen especially to plants located close to the house walls since chemicals can leach out from the foundation concrete and make the soil more and more alkaline as time goes by.
Sometimes tap water is slightly alkaline, too, which doesn't please the gardenias either.
Sprinkle some acidifier like iron sulfate around the plant to lower the soil ph, it can't hurt. There are also acid plant fertilizers that will do the trick as well as feed the plant. Your local garden store will have several to choose from.

Thanks so much for the transplanting and care tips. This bush is not close to the house and I do not generally water or fertilize it. I didn't know Gardenias, like Azaleas, do better in acidic soil. I've heard putting used tea leaves around the base will improve the acidity, so I'll give that a try I know azaleas do well around pine trees as the trees contribute to the acid level in the soil. A few years back we removed the pine tree that was relatively close to the gardenia. It needing a little more acid would make sense.

Thanks again for all the great information!