The oleander is a shrub which can be grown in the ground or in pots. It is popular with many gardeners because its culture does not pose any particular problem and it is covered with a abundant flowering. It is therefore marvelous in the garden, on the terrace, the balcony, where one also benefits in winter from its evergreen of an intense green and very shiny. The oleander deserves that we take care to prune it according to the rules of the art in order to densify its foliage and encourage its flowering, but also to save it after heavy frosts. Let’s see when to prune your oleander and what method to adopt.
Oleander pruning: recommended period
The size keeps the port compact of the oleander and to prevent the new branches of the year, full of vigor, from developing too quickly. On the other hand, it should not be detrimental to the flowering to come. Thus, the best time to prune an oleander is located between the end of October / beginning of November and the month of February the tree being in vegetative rest. It is especially not necessary if to take too late, when with the arrival of spring the first shoots appear.
It is very important to respect this pruning period, whether the shrub is in the ground where it is planted in a jar. If the pruning is done too late, that is to say when spring is already well established, we will not see any flower of the year bloom. It would be a real shame because no one can resist the beauty of its profuse flowering which enhances the outdoor space.
It should be noted, however, that pruning an oleander is not necessary every year as long as the shrub retains its compact habit, its foliage is lively and very shiny, no branch is damaged and it blooms profusely. These are elements that testify to his good health. We can therefore content ourselves with prune it every 2 or 3 years in order to simply limit its growth, for example.
Prune an oleander: how to do it?
To preserve the beauty of oleander after flowering, it is useful to remove all faded flowers. It is also an essential task that must be carried out when overwintering potted subjects in a room in order to protect them from extreme cold. This moment must be chosen to fold each subject into the tray, opting for a fairly severe pruning if necessary. Otherwise, a maintenance pruning enough. The length of the stems of the year is shortened by at most 40% so that the shrub retains a harmonious and compact silhouette.
To perform the oleander maintenance pruningjust follow the steps below:
- Remove old branches by cutting above a new branch, this one starting from the bottom of the old wood,
- Eliminate the new branches starting from the base if they are too numerous and keep only the most vigorous.
Pour lead an oleander on a stem, pruning then consists in keeping only one branch which will become the trunk. This one being perfectly cleared, it will ramify afterwards, but the shrub will no longer have its compact form.
Frozen oleander: can severe pruning save it?
It can happen that an oleander suffers from having undergone successive freezes. This shrub does not tolerate temperatures below -4°C when it is still young, but its tolerance threshold increases with age. It can, after a few years of cultivation, support down to -10°C. This is the reason why it is preferable to keep it in pots in mountainous regions, as this allows it to be stored away during the off-season. Note that north of the Loire, you can a minima install a winter sail to protect the oleanders which cannot be placed in a room.
And the oleander has frozenwhich can be spotted by the blackening of some of its branches and/or the softening of some others as well as the yellowing of the leaves, it is important not to hesitate to cut him down severely : at least fifty centimeters from the ground or even better, the whole foot can be folded down to ground level so as to remove all the aerial parts which have frozen because they will not grow back. This shrub absolutely not afraid of drastic sizes. It will leave all the better in the spring and will not wait long to regain all its vigor and beauty. However, it will not flower during the year following this size.
Finally, care must be taken to remove all pods oleander. They are simply bean-shaped bags that carry the seeds. Leaving them exhausts the shrub unnecessarily. And last precaution to take: we always wear gloves to handle an oleander whose toxicity is well known. Be careful with children! They must not touch either the leaves or the stems, as they can become poisoned by putting their hands in their mouths.