This is the small-leafed variety of Gardenia that was a yard plant for 15 years or so. I dug it up when we moved in 2006. It went straight into this big mica training pot and has been pretty healthy ever since. This picture is from 2006. I will continue to upload some progression photos over the next few days. I am currently air-layering it, and it should be ready for separation in another week or two, so I will be able to top it off with that. I've posted this tree at various stages on various forums over the years, but I've always wanted to have a thread consolidating all of it, so I figured this would be a good place. Plus, I finally got around to figuring out how to resize my pics.

The first pic was 2007 I believe, and I was considering that for a front.
Second pic was 2008, and I had cut it back and repotted it. Root growth was good, and I was able to pretty much bareroot it. After getting it into a well-draining mix I realized that without the old soil, it would need PH adjustment. The new growth was slightly yellow, like it was lacking nitrogen. I tried to give it nitrogen for a month or so, and it did not help. I then learned that if the PH was not right the plant would not be able to utilize the nitrogen in the soil, so I started a regular schedule of fertilizer for acid-loving plants. After a few weeks I started adding nitrogen, and the leaves started looking healthy again. 

Interesting, thanks. John

I have a soft spot for gardenias, but I was of the impression that they were reticent to have their roots worked much ....to include collection.  Can you tell us about what it was growing in when you collected it, what you put it in, ...and any after care or tricks used collecting it?

This was growing in pretty good soil in my old back yard. It had a fairly compact rootball so it went immediately into this mica training pot. When I first potted it, I only trimmed enough big roots to get it into the pot. I used a highly organic mix initially because they do like moisture and humidity. From what I've heard, I was lucky to have had it growing in good soil in the ground so that most of the roots didn't have to search too far for nutrients. After its first year in this mica pot with an organic soil (not really as free draining as I would like), I mostly bare-rooted it to try to get the old soggy soil out. I actually forgot what I used in the new soil, but it was comparable to turface. I still added a little more organic (bark and compost) than I usually would with most other plants, but I made sure that the water drained through pretty well. Also I added a top layer of pure bark (repti-bark from a pet store). This helped keep humidity and it allowed for increased air flow. I don't think the soil in this pot has ever dried out. It seems to like it though. Maybe if it stops raining today I can take a picture with the layer removed. I am still not sure where to go with this one. It has filled out a lot though, so maybe somebody will see something in it.