Re: OLEANDERS Beautiful but poisonous.

In a message dated 11/27/100 6:44:16 PM EST, theryans@xtra.co.nz writes:

<< For me Oleander so much means the lovely big bush of the pink double in
 the garden of my childhood home near Nairobi, also a wonderful bush of
 the same bursting with bloom we once photographed on the shores of Lake
 Victoria in East Africa during a very happy holiday spent
 circumnavigating the lake. >>

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but all the doubles I've seen seem 
to be weak-stemmed, so that the whole plant just sort of flops and spreads in 
every direction--like a rambling rose or a Cape Plumbago.  Also, they tend to 
hold their flowers instead of dropping them, resulting in a rather untidy 
mess.  The flowers are lovely, and even the entire plant can be lovely in 
bloom, but it needs to be placed where its habits won't make it a nuisance.  
My antipathy to oleanders has nothing to do with the merits of the plant, but 
rather with the fact that they are dead common and will forever be associated 
in my mind with freeway medians and ugly industrial sites.  Who wants to 
invite that kind of comparison in his or her garden?

I heartily agree with whomever it was who said that our love or distaste for 
certain plants has everything to do with our associations.  Chas doesn't like 
Amaryllis belladonna?  Too bad!  To me, the childhood delight of discovering 
that there was a plant called Naked Ladies (gasp!) in the garden at my 
grandmother's house will forever endear those tawdry pink bells with their 
cheap scent to me.  Plants with strong scents, in particular, seem to have 
that effect on me.  My grandmother also grew spearmint and Victorian Box 
(Pittosporum sp.?) in her garden, and the smell of those plants always takes 
me back.  I'd be interested in hearing how many other people plant things 
because of a childhood association.  I know that's why I have Naked Ladies 
and Grape Hyacinth, a fig tree and a pomegranate, plum trees and citrus 
trees.  They all evoke strong, fond memories of childhood.  How about it?  Am 
I the only who's done this, either wittingly or unwittingly?

Kurt
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