Worth knowing:
The evergreen, lignifying oleander with its leathery lancet-shaped leaves blooms a striking pink-purple between June and September. As a tub plant it reaches a height of up to 3 metres.
Natural Location:
Oleander is native to Asia and the Mediterranean region.
Cultivation:
Indoors, it can be grown from seed all year round. In order to increase the germination capacity of the seeds, you should let them swell overnight in room-warm water. Oleander is a light germinator. Place the seeds half a centimetre deep in moist growing soil and cover the seeds only thinly with substrate. Cover the growing container with cling film and make holes in it. This protects the soil from drying out. Every two to three days you should remove the foil for 2 hours. This prevents mould from forming on the growing soil. Place the propagator in a light and warm place with 20 to 25° Celsius and keep the soil moist, but not wet. After four to seven weeks the first seedlings will appear.
Place:
Oleander is a warmth-loving plant that prefers a solitary position in a sunny location with plenty of room for its lush growth. In summer a warm, sheltered and sunny outdoor spot is ideal.
Care:
Cut back the seedlings by a third as soon as they are about 20 centimetres high. This will encourage the plant to produce a bushy shoot. Later, you can cut the oleander back by up to two thirds in autumn. During the growing season you should water abundantly. Otherwise, the lower leaves will turn yellow during drought and the flower formation will suffer. During the flowering period, supply the plant with potted plant fertiliser every two weeks. The plant can be easily propagated by means of cuttings - best between June and September. First cut off several young shoots of 15 to 25 centimetres in length directly below a leaf node and remove the lower pairs of leaves completely. Place the cuttings in a water glass and give the container a bright and warm place without direct sunlight. After about four weeks the first fine roots will develop and the rooted cuttings can later be transferred to a container with a humus-rich substrate.
During the winter:
Oleander is not frost-resistant. It requires a frost-free, cool winter quarter with temperatures of 5° to 10° Celsius.
Picture credits:
- © © Alvesgaspar - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Shanmugamp7 - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Judgefloro - CC-BY-SA-4.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
- © Prenn - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Alejandro Bayer Tamayo from Armenia, Colombia - CC-BY-SA-2.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
- © Maher27777 - Public Domain - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/
- © Ian W. Fieggen - GFDL - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl
