PlantFiles: Oleander
Nerium oleander 'Petite Salmon'

We live in the Panhandle of Florida, just 30 miles north of Pensacola, Florida. We planted the Petite Oleander last summer on the south side of the house. We have had a hard freeze this year, down to 19 degrees the coldest it has been in 10 years here. Our Oleander's froze and now we do not know what to do? We understand that they will come back, but when do we trim them? AND how far back do we trim them?
I would like to know what to do?
Thanks.

I have these in full sun and accented with mexican heather. It looks really nice. These need little watering, once a week. They are very self sufficient. When I first planted them, last summer, they got scale mites and dropped all of their leaves and flowers. I bought a natural pesticide soap, wore long sleeves and a pair of gloves and scrubbed all the branches. They seemed to come back from the dead! And beautiful as ever. If you have kids or dogs, plant them on a side of your home where they don't play or surround them with low growing plants as I did. The best defense for those orange caterpillars with black fur is too check once a week while watering. Remove any you find to a covered bin. Pesticides kill them and their natural foes and, as I found, made "mine" susceptable to scale.

These are very popular plants in commercial landscaping such as restaurants, in this area..(8b).
They do not seem to freeze even in unprotected locations and bloom heavily..
However I have them in a protected area and they freeze every year.. This results in a late bloom with few flowers..
I dunno if it's me or them.

I have these plants all along the house in an area that gets about 6 hours of sun a day. It grows well - however, it is prone to white flies. I use dormant oil on them in the spring - and a systemic insecticide about 1 month later. Today is May 8th and I'm cutting them back again (first time in March). They are 6 feet tall and look great, however they will be getting leggy soon and will grow too high if I don't cut them back now. I'm cutting them back 3 feet! They're going to look naked!!!!!

This plant can be beautiful, and is unbelievably drought resistant. It is planted heavily in Phoenix, AZ, where plants must be watered to survive. It can "die" for months (as in living in a yard of an abandoned home) and will come back again as soon as it is watered.

However, its extremely poisonous nature would keep me from planting it anywhere. It used to be planted along highways, but accident victims who survived car crashes were dying from being thrown into oleander bushes. And I've read that honey made from oleanders is also poisonous, as are marshmallows roasted on sticks from the plant--every part of this plant is potentially deadly, and to me that is too great a risk for my home.

Dwarf variety of this popular evergreen shrub w/large single salmon pink flowers.

ALL parts of oleander are toxic, precautions should be taken with household pets and small children. Contact with foliage &/or latex can cause skin irritation. Wash your hands after pruning or handling this plant.