Hi there,

I received a gardenia augusta Florida as a gift in October (not an ideal gift for a newbie gardener) and left it in the pot it was sent in, thinking I would wait till it was dormant and not stressed to repot it. The gardenia promptly dropped all buds but, before I left for my two-week Christmas break, it had new bright-green leaves and a new bud-holder was forming.

The self-watering system I purchase for my trip failed and, when I returned, the gardenia leaves were dark green and crunchy. So I pruned the plant right back. That was probably a mistake but I was very disappointed. It's been two weeks and there's no sign of growth. I read somewhere that I should scrape some bark back to check if the stem is still green (meaning alive) and it is, but there's no growth.

Is it actually dead? Should I give up or give it a lot more time?