Video Transcript

Fun stuff. You are home. You have purchased this gorgeous gardenia bush and you're going to put it in the ground. This is Nicholas Staddon from Monrovia Nursery. We're going to talk about how to transplant a gardenia bush. We've had a lot of fun at the garden center. We've bought a beautiful looking gardenia August Beauty. Now we're going to have the fun of putting her in the ground. We've dug a hole which is about twice the size of the root ball. We're all prepared with our mulch, slow release fertilizer. The first thing we do is very carefully remove the plant from the pot. Wow, look at that root system. That's exactly what you want to see on any plant you buy from the garden center. Keep your hand on the bottom of the plant, gently lower her into the ground, whoo, she loves that, home at last. OK. So now what is really important is make sure that the planting depth is not any higher or lower than the original soil level of the plant. Your soil mix is really key. If you're in an area of the United States where you have alkaline soil, gardenias love some acidity. Make sure you've got peat moss or coco core and away we go. OK. I've got some organic mix in here as well. I've mixed this a little bit with the native soil. So when the roots come out they start to grow into the new soil that they're going to become accustomed to. Look at that. About half way through I take my slow release fertilizer, just a little bit around the edge. I fertilize about every 40 days or so during the growing season. OK. Now I leave a well, put a little more fertilizer in there, and then the last thing I do is give her a good watering in. I couldn't find my watering can otherwise we would do that in front of the camera for you. So that's how easy it is. Watch the plant. You're probably going to have to water her about every 3 or 4 days right from the get go. If she starts to wilt just a little bit, maybe she needs more water but check the moisture content of the soil with your fingers because it could be because you're giving her too much water as well. So you see how easy it is. It's not difficult at all. And it's fun. If you haven't had your daily workout you get it planting these great bushes. This is Nicholas Staddon from Monrovia Nursery talking about how to transplant a gardenia bush.