[saltmarsh]

I do love the smell of gardenia. When I bought my home in 1975 it came with 2 gardenias which were over 70 years old. One on each side of the front porch steps. They were growing in plain clay soil under the shade of post oak trees which were about the same age. They had been neglected for years since the woman whose husband had the house built in 1901 had died. They were still healthy and were loaded with flowers each year inspite of or because of total neglect.

Over the years I've taken numerous cuttings and after rooting them, I've planted more around the yard and given them to anyone who wanted them.

To root a dozen cuttings, take a 2 gallon black plastic pot like a shrub comes in. Fill the pot with ordinary sand. I have a friend who does dirt work and I can get all the sand straight from the ground I need. Try not to use washed sand like you would buy from the store.

After you have your pot of sand wet it with water until it is saturated.

Take a margarine tub and put a couple of inches of tap water in it.

Now take your cuttings. Don't cut straight across, cut them on an angle. You want cuttings which are straight, about the size of a pencil, and 10 inches long. As you make the cuttings strip off any branches and leaves, only leaving 3 leaves at the top of each cutting and place the cutting bottom side down in the tub of water.

When you have all of your cuttings take them back over to your tub of sand and water the sand again.

After the water settles below the surface of the sand, dip the bottom of each cutting in rootnone, tap off the excess and use a pencil to make a hole in the center of the sand in the pot and insert the cutting into the hole with about 3 inches sticking above the sand. Don't worry about packing sand around it. Now do the same thing with the rest of the cuttings leaving about 2 inches between each cutting and its neighbor.

Now water the sand again. Then take 2 wire coat hangars, straighten them out and stick them in the sand at the edge of the pot to form a crossed hoop over the cuttings. Finally, place a white plastic grocery bag over the hoops and tie it around the top of the pot using twine.

Set the pot in partial shade and leave it alone for 2 months. If at the end of 2 months if you are not ready to plant, that's ok the cuttings will be fine for up to 6 months.

When you are ready to plant (any time after 2 months) use sissors to cut 4 slits 2 inches long in the plastic bag about an inch above the rim of the pot and cut a 2 inch circle from the top of the bag. Leave it alone for another week. This will harden the cuttings off.

After the cuttings are hardened off decide where you are going to plant them and dig a hole about 12 inches in diameter and 8 inches deep. pulverize the soil you removed from the holes. Take 3 or 4 cups of the pulverized soil, put it in a plastic tub and mix it with enough water until it is about the consistancy of pancake batter. Take the tub of mud over to the cuttings and remove the plastic bag and wire hoops from the cutting pot. Lay the cutting pot on its side and flood the sand with water to wash sand from the roots. Carefully separate the cuttings and as they come free, pull them back and forth in the mud to coat the roots completely. When the roots are coated with mud, stand the cutting inside the tub and do the rest the same way.
When the cuttings have been mudded take them to the holes and plant them at the same depth they were in the sand. Fill the hole half full with the pulverized soil you removed from the hole and water the dirt until about an inch of water is standing on the surface.
Plant the rest using the same procedure. Now go back and put the rest of the dirt in each hole. Water throughly and unless you are in the middle of a drought, let nature do the rest. Claud