Oleanders took the frosts bad

neilsuzukisv2-Rq-DOX

Unfortunately I was advised they would be fine through out the winter. Well there were battered. Looked dead, so I cut back to what looked OK. There is new buds appearing. Since I stored them in the shed(with windows) hoping they will be ok

Nanny Beach

Mine are quite big when I bought them the ad in the paper said fully hardy. I live in the SE UK only 10 minutes from the sea,they didn't die but they didn't flowers either, and garden mags say they aren't hardy, let's face it, they come in from the Med,so this last winter,they went into a lean to green house,I am opening the door on the day,and then later this month at night, before they go outside for the summer

PeggyTX

It has been my experience oleanders will not take a hard freeze.  I had 25 of them along my back garden cedar fencing planted by a previous owner.  Every year we got a hard freeze on the TX Gulf Coast, they would literally die down to the ground, all 25 of them.  They were about 20' tall, massive bloomers, yet all frozen branches had to be lopped off to 8-10 inches and hauled away.  Good news is that an oleander will grow completely back from a bare stump off their roots in just one Spring.  Since I had so many of them, it took a full day to keep such mature bushes in shape, but without that effort, they would quickly overhang and kill my lawn at the edge of the garden).  

Also be aware that they are techinically bushes, not trees.  Although I have tried with a dwarf peach oleander that had one very sturdy 2" trunk, I did not succeed.  Despite metal stake and rope, I could not keep that thing upright to safe my life.  They WANT to have multiple branches emitting from the ground and are too top-heavy with foliage and blooms to stand erect for long.  You will fight that growth tendancy for the life of an oleander.  I had to trim 5-10 branches off each of the 25 I had every single summer at that house.  I have to say that now that I no longer live on the Gulf Coast, I do not miss all the work my oleanders required, despite how I love them.

Nanny Beach

Yes,we call them bushes.what is your weather like now?

JennyJ

The new buds look promising. It's not something I would even try here, unless I had a conservatory.

Bijdezee

I lost my only cutting of one called 'Alsace' which was a really nice one that I haven't seen in garden centres here again. 😟
I have a large one outside that seems to have very little damage but its only the bog standard pink one. I think they must be slightly hardier. 

PeggyTX

Nanny Beach said:

Yes,we call them bushes.what is your weather like now?

Oh, Texas has already warmed up to 10-20ºC at night; 25-29ºC daily highs.  Summer is here.    

Fire

From -13 to +30oC in two months in Texas?! Crikey. 

Makes me appreciate our rather pitiful 15oC.

Nollie

They are not hardy everywhere in Spain either. OH insisted we try one and it’s a half-dead, miserable looking bush. They thrive on the milder, generally frost-free coast and in the south, but I would need a heated greenhouse to keep it alive and healthy over winter. Your shed would’ve been too cold for it and possibly insufficient light.  I agree with Peggy it will be difficult to maintain it in that standard tree form.

floralies

I have several planted in the ground, they are in a sheltered spot but can get quite ravaged in a hard winter but do come back with a good prune.

neilsuzukisv2-Rq-DOX

Hi. Thanks for the replys. It was left out in the middle of the garden, when I posted this I'd cut it back a couple of days before, there is a lot of new shoots forming now, going to leave in there for a few weeks to help on its way. Will get a green house but probably next year. Have a 4ft by 6.6ft pop up greenhouse which I may erect to use for some thing's