Distressed gardenia shrub

Question

I have three beautiful gardenia shrubs that I have in my backyard for the past 10 years. This spring two of the three shrubs only produced a handful of blooms, whereas in year’s past I’ve received hundreds of blooms on each shrub. In June of this year, two of the three (same two that didn’t bloom well), lost 90% of their leaves and now only have green leaves on the top part of each shrub. The only problem I can see that might have caused this is that we had an extremely hot June. The third shrub is doing fine and looks great. Any ideas on what I can fertilize with to see if they will come back? Brand name and/or a home remedy? As I said, each shrub is about 10 years old. Would it help to drastically cut the shrub back to its base? I would hate to do this, but if it will help, i’ll do it. Thank you for any advice you can provide.

Answer 1

Likely the Gardenias dropped leaves due to the heat.

Here is a few links that will help you with care information.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/gardenia/gardenia-plant.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/gardenia/fertilizing-gardenias-in-your-garden.htm