Hilly's Inbox

You can cut Oleanders really hard back and you should get good young growth again.

Hi Hilly - I am a US Florida native, and Oleander grows wild here. It has poisonous berries - something children here are warned not to eat. We plant it along Interstates and roadsides for color and soil erosion control. Very easy to grow and propagate, grows in sandy soil. Very forgiving plant - takes drought/wind/full sun and continues to bloom. The only enemy is a yellow & black caterpillar - which for some reason can be controlled with household Raid brand insect spray! Can be cut back severely over winter and return very full in the spring. Plants freeze here and still come back, but cut back and heavily mulch would be a better idea.

They are very popular here in Hungary. People grow them in pots outside in the Summer. They cannot stay out in a Hungarian winter. I guess you would need to do the same in UK. They get pretty big so you need a big pot and space to overwinter. I don't have any myself for this reason.

Oleanders are not hardy in U.K. but will survive in cool greenhouse . Very pretty and long flowering in pink red and white varieties double and single flowers and very easy from cuttings or seeds, certainly worth trying.You see them all over Southern Europe and are often planted municipally ,in Cyprus they have them growing on the central reservation of the motorway!!!

Hi Hilly - I am sorry, I really don't know anything about Oleander at all. I don't think that it is commonly grown in the UK, so maybe that's why you didn't get any response to your question. I did read it... honestly! I will look at my RHS books tonight and see if there are any clues. You never know!