The first time I saw oleanders was in Tucson,AZ. I thought they were really pretty, until I found out that they are poisonous. When I got back to Memphis, I saw them used for headges and for some reason, I was surprised that they grew here. I love the climate in Ohio, cause it's cold in the winter time and hostas are gorgeous up there. They are here as well, but I have to baby them too much. Also they don't have the bugs that we do and they don't have the humidity we do. There are pros and cons to living in every state.
Posts: 2908 | Location: Holly Springs, MS USA | Registered: Sep 19, 2002
No babying at all. I usually chop it back to a 24 inch high plant when it comes indoors, but then it may grow back each summer with blooms. I can't increase the pot size--it's already getting so large that soon it would be too difficult to drag indoors. I rarely feed it and it has survived scale and aphids, which were treated of course. I really love them growing along the roadside down south. The flowers are so pretty.
Posts: 2545 | Location: Ohio | Registered: Feb 25, 2006
Oleanders are used near the coast in highway medians. They can stand the salt mist out near the beach. They also can tolerate the desert heat, too. Don't know how much water they require there, but I don't think very much because I've seen them growing there in highway medians too. The standard oleanders can get 10-12 feet tall under the right conditions. They come in pinks and whites.
I believe there's a smaller version available too, but I've never wanted any of them.
They are pretty impervious to bugs and such, but there is one caterpillar that does attack them sometimes, but I can't remember what it is called right now.
Mine only gets cut back usually after the first of the year. Thanks is all I do. Gets fertilized if we do the lawn and some gets in it's area. Only gets the rain. Only have had trouble the the caterpillars a couple of times. My area is free growing, not neatly trimmed by any means... Chris
Posts: 5057 | Location: Tampa Bay | Registered: Jan 10, 2003
There are a lot of them in Hawaii also. They use them on the expressways between lanes of traffic...so they are sandwiched between 2 strips of asphalt and still grow well.
"The soil is the source of life, creativity, culture and real independence." David Ben-Gurion
