My neighbor and friend has beautiful gardenia bushes. They are in her protected courtyard and flower profusely every year.
Envious? You bet..

So, how about some cuttings? She most generously gave me LOTS of healthy cuttings!

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Look at these glossy, gorgeous leaves. Her bushes are all in containers and seem very happy.

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Here is my short video tutorial on how to make cuttings and grow healthy gardenias:

I know, I know: I’m telling you to use clear glass, and here I have a green glass vase. So, the lesson is that a color will work!

Here is what you need to remember:

• Use only healthy, green, intact cuttings
• Use glass bottles: no, they don’t have to be clear!
• Wrap a paper towel around the stem, about half way down.
• Put into the bottle so the toweling acts as a cork
• Leave in moderate light for several weeks
• When they have developed small white roots you can put them in sterile potting soil. Leave in     partial sunlight. Gardenias like moisture and humidity, so try putting the pot on a tray with pebbles and only water from the bottom i.e. the pebbles.

 I, of course, am going to have SO many perfectly rooted cuttings and no where to put these gorgeous plants! So if you live near me, email me and I will gladly give you a rooted gardenia.

One wonderful benefit of buying some glass bottles was having fun with them in my photo shoot today. We are going to be getting a lot (8″?) of rain in the next few days, so I was out tending my gardens this morning and cut many end-of-season flowers.
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I just love how these look like an old-masters painting. Well, sort of….

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I have more fall flowers and colors over on Instagram. Hope you will follow along.

Happy weekend everyone!

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