Use the pot with drainage for sure -- and an acidic soil. I think that's where I went wrong in the past. Keep away from heat ducts and rain water works better than city or even my pumped water.
Mom's favorite flower is gardenia. She had one in the house for about 2 years, several blooms for quite a long time. Then is just died. I love a challenge, if I found a healthy plant for the right price, I would go for it!
Spider Mites. I have never had a gardenia that didn't somehow manage to get spider mites. I think they are just too particular for growing in the home. But they sure smell good!
Bought it! It cost me nothing, bc my mom had given me jar of change and there was more than enough to buy the tree. =b The final cost, 75% off, was $16.35
I put it, temporarily, in front of the north facing full window glass door of Suite B of our office. Suite A faces north with the west wall. We're always hotter in the summer and colder in the winter. I know that north isn't really full sun, but I was on my way to get hay and it seemed like a good spot to plop it. I'll know in a week if it likes it there. Otherwise, I'm thinking of putting it in my south facing bedroom window on the 2nd floor. Our house is 100yo, with 3 bedrooms upstairs facing North, East and South. The windows go right to the floor. We call them "suicide windows", but they are great for annuals like geraniums to winter as houseplants. I have PLENTY of acid composted soil. The pinkish lavendar rose I'm saving for my daughter is just gonna have to winter in a vegetable bed ad give up it's big blue and cream ceramic pot I got on sale last month for the gardenia tree.
Btw, I paid for it by counting out dimes and nickels.