How to plant gardenia seeds? A detailed guide to the latest planting methods

Gardenia is an evergreen shrub of the family Rubiaceae, distributed in central and south-central China. Its leaves are bright green and evergreen through the four seasons, and its flowers are large, pure white and richly fragrant. It can be planted in massed clumps or placed at forest edges, in front of courtyards, in courtyard corners and beside roads, and is also very suitable for balcony greening, potted flowers, cut flowers or bonsai. Now let us take a look at how to plant gardenia seeds!

What conditions are needed to grow gardenia?

1. Light: Gardenia likes light and can also tolerate shade. Under shaded conditions the leaves are dark green but flowering is somewhat poorer.

2. Temperature: Gardenia likes a warm and humid climate, tolerates heat and also slightly tolerates cold (-3℃).

3. Soil: Gardenia likes fertile, well-drained, acidic light clay loam, and also tolerates drought and poor soil, but the plant tends to age easily.

4. Water: Gardenia likes moist soil and relatively high air humidity, and during the growing period watering should be increased appropriately.

How are gardenia seeds sown?

1. Seed selection: Choose plump, deep-red ripe fruits and dry them in the sun or in the shade with the shells still on to use as seed. After taking out the seeds, rub them apart in hot water to remove floating seeds or impurities, then scoop out the sunken, plump seeds and spread them on a bamboo mat, placing them in a ventilated place to air off excess moisture.

2. Land preparation: Choose deep, loose, fertile sandy loam, plow it 1-1.5 chi deep and then make beds. Apply 20-30 loads of human and animal manure per mu. After the soil dries, level the bed surface, and open sowing furrows on the bed surface at a row spacing of 6-7 cun, with the furrows about 1 cun deep.

3. Sowing: Gardenia can be sown in spring or autumn. Spring sowing is done around Yushui, and autumn sowing is done around Qiufen. When sowing, mix the seeds with plant ash and evenly sow them in the sowing furrows, then cover the furrows level with fine soil or burned soil, and keep the soil moist regularly to help seedlings emerge.

4. Seedling raising: After sowing gardenia, water regularly to keep the bed surface moist. Seedlings can emerge in about 20 days. After emergence, remove the covering grass on the bed surface. When the seedlings grow 2-3 true leaves, thin them out by removing overcrowded and weak seedlings, and apply additional fertilizer appropriately at the same time.

5. Field planting: For gardenia sown in autumn and cultivated until late autumn or early winter of the second year, it can be planted out when the seedlings are more than 30 cm tall. For spring-sown seedlings, they can be planted out in the second year's spring when they reach 30 cm tall. If they do not reach 30 cm, continue cultivating them until late autumn or early winter for transplanting.

How should gardenia be grown to do well?

1. Potting soil: Gardenia is an indicator flower that likes acidic soil, with a suitable pH of 5 to 6. For cultivation soil, you can choose leaf mold, peat soil, or composted sawdust plus half garden soil. Avoid old wall soil and coal cinder. Using commercially sold clivia soil is more convenient and practical.

2. Watering: Gardenia likes moist soil and relatively high air humidity. During the growing period from April to September, keep the potting soil moist. Usually, water when the potting soil turns pale, and water thoroughly at one time. But after the flowers bud, watering should not be too much, so as to avoid bud drop.

3. Fertilizing: Gardenia is a plant that likes fertilizer. Add 3% decomposed cake fertilizer to the potting soil as base fertilizer. During the growing season, water once a week with alum fertilizer water made by composting cake fertilizer with ferrous sulfate. During the budding stage, watering 1 to 2 times with a 0.1% potassium dihydrogen phosphate aqueous solution can make the flowers larger and the fragrance richer.

4. Light: Gardenia likes light. It can also grow in semi-shade for a long time, but the flowering branches will be longer and the flowers fewer. Except for shading from strong midday light from July to August and during the winter dormant period, it generally needs to be kept in sunlight for care so that it can bloom abundantly and grow lush leaves.

5. Soil replacement: It is better to replace the soil for gardenia in March in spring. After taking it out of the pot, cut off some old roots, shake off half of the old soil, plant it into the pot with new soil, then water thoroughly, place it in a warm semi-shaded place, and when new buds begin to sprout, place it in sunlight for care.

6. Pruning: After gardenia blooms each year, prune it lightly by cutting off inner branches and diseased or weak branches, and shorten individual leggy branches. But remember that gardenia must not be cut back at the branch tips in spring, otherwise it will not bloom that year.

7. Overwintering: Gardenia can overwinter outdoors in the Qinling area of China, but potted gardenia roots will be damaged after severe winter. You can place the potted flower in a cold room at about 5℃ to let it go dormant, protect the root system well, and overwinter it in a windproof, sunny place, so that it recovers quickly and blooms early in spring.