Oleander

anthonystone.samos

How can I get a young oleander plant to bush out at the bottom? I have cut off the top growth but it has simply grown again. The lower stem is completely bare.

amancalledgeorge

Can you add a photo to help us out? I've been growing a cutting for a year and it bushed on its own accord...and I wasn't that bothered about being bushy. Plants, they have a mind of their own!
If you're in the UK it's the end of the growing season so nothing can be done on that front until spring. 

anthonystone.samos

Thanks for responding. No sorry I can't supply photo but the plant was grown from a cutting and unlike the many others it grew tall with a long thin stem. The other cuttings bushed out at the bottom as well as the top. As I said I cut off most of the top in the hope that it sprout further down the stem, but no, it grew at the top again.
I have heard that it may sprout on the stem if I took a few very small nicks out of it, but I am worried about damaging the plant.
I am growing a hedge to cover a very unsightly wall.
Incidentally, I am in Greece and  I am still taking and growing cuttings.

natalien

I grew up in Arizona and oleander is used as a hedging plant there. You can cut it down to the base in the winter and it will reshoot and bush out in spring (if it has an established enough root system). 

anthonystone.samos

Ok thanks, I will see how it goes.
You don't recommend taking some nicks out of the stem?
I remember someone recommended doing it to cuttings.