Oleander Hardiness

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I wouldn't argue with Karrie's main point - that oleanders can in some contexts cope with moist soil - but I think the crux is her subsidiary point, that the necessary context is some real serious summer heat. In western coastal regions of the UK what we mostly get is mildish winters (only brief interludes of low level frost) but coolish summers (in which mid-20s C counts as hot), plus no real extended dry period at all. In areas like mine, in the far north west (the same is pretty well true of the far south west as well, where I lived for some years), what you get instead is (very) extended wet periods! Plus, in my case, a rich and (even when in raised beds with added sand and gravel) moisture-retentive soil. Recipe for oleander disaster, hm?

 

Except, that is - sod's law - for this year, when if I'd kept my oleanders I might have done much better with them, since in common with most of the UK we had a two-month-long completely rain-free period during which temperatures were consistently in the high 20s and often nudging into the low 30s. Enough to satisfy even an oleander, surely...

 

Actually, as you might expect, west coast gardeners in the UK by and large do much better with 'tender' plants from the Far East and South America  than they do with plants from regions which are more strictly 'Mediterranean.' It's only because Medit-Plants takes such a civilised 'broad church' approach that I can sneak in here at all!

 

Tim Longville