That good old south-facing brick wall, under the eaves. Free-draining soil. Some summer water but not a lot. Usually wind-sturdy unless you get something that shears the tops of trees/shrubs in your area. Wait until spring before cutting it back to take out old wood.

Frost cloth - just in case. Usually OK down to about -7C, though there will be some damage. If you get colder than that, and it hasn't had much of a summer baking - two frost cloths.

Velvet, Oleanders can perform moderately to reasonably well in southern coastal districts - especially during warm summers. In the SW - (West Dorset down to Cornwall and probably around the N. Cornwall and N. Devon coasts), no protection is needed if grown against a sunny wall. The reflected heat from such sites will promote stronger, earlier flowering shoots. Quite a few can go down to minus 10C, but (and its a big but) they need masses of heat when actively growing to build up that level of hardiness. In the UK, where summers are relatively cool and winters quite wet, they are really only safe down to overnight lows of around 5C and will suffer damage if exposed to prolonged periods of freezing. It goes almost without saying that the soil should very well drained.

They are very drought tolerant, but will grow faster and flower better if given additional water in summer. Some varieties need more heat to flower freely and generally, the double whites fall into this category. If you can get hold of named varieties (rarely seen in the UK unfortunately) the best for outdoors planting are: 'Atlas' - pink with a pale greenish yellow centre, tough and easy to grow., 'Italia' - rich, deep reddish pink, very fragrant compact and hardy to minus 8C in the UK without damage., 'Pasadena' - fuchsia pink, fragrant., 'Petite Red' - red, faintly fragrant, very dwarf., 'Villa Romaine' - pink with much deeper centre, exceptionally hardy maybe even to minus 10C in the UK!

Unfortunately the whites and creams tend either to be less hardy or do not perform well in the relatively low light levels that we get in this country. The common, single pink that is seen in garden centres is probably Nerium oleander ssp. oleander, which is reasonably hardy, but does not always flower that freely out of doors.

I suppose I ought to mention that all parts of the plant are highly toxic and can be fatal if ingested. I should also add that you would have to have the most extraordinary lack of taste buds to want to chew on any part - even the tiniest amount is very acrid, sickeningly so.

Mine is fine in Oxford. I used to bring it in in winter, but this one it's been outsiode all the time. There are some planted out here too, and temps below -5 are relatively common here. Mine is a white one - always flowers and seems pretty hardy.

I have a double pink (don't know the name) in a small walled garden in Somerset. It is in large pot and I used to bring it in in the winter but it has been outside for 2 winters now. It is always loaded with flower buds but they only open when it is extremely hot.

The worst winter gales cross my garden S to N from the sea, but I do have a pergola which seems to have protected standardised wisteria quite well and the Brown Turkey fig has survived outside the pergola. We really don't get much frost & got snow that laid for the first time in 5 yrs !!

It's a fuchsia pink oleander, don't think it's a double, came from the Netherlands.

So OK (gulp) if I plant Ollie out, what do I need to do in the way of prep please cos OK I am gonna sound well mad here but he is a member of my family :)

Pop a couple of cuttings to start in water as insurance.

'Well-drained soil'. In this area Neriums do well in the local alluvial silty/sand which sometimes has an under-layer of clay and very few stones, or zillions of assorted boulders for those living close by the river. The soil is slightly to moderately acid.

IME Neriums respond well to a mulch of old house-and-garden compost - where the eggshells are very brown and crumbly. It's a good pick-me-up after pruning by hand or frost.

Ollie the oleander is in a sheltered corner of the garden where he gets protection from winter winds, but I have taken out the shelves of the mini plastic greenhouse and plonked it over him last two winters which worked brilliantly Winter 05/05 and he flowered wonderfully last summer. This winter, his greenhouse blew off despite being firmly tethered. He now has some brown dead leaves right at the top - should I remove these ? Also when should I feed him ?

Many thanks !

HI,
Can anyone help?
I recently purchased two standard oleanders (pink) i unfortunately left them out in the frost and snow and now they appear to be dying .What can i do?

Leave them to see if they will sprout from the older, thicker stems.

Remember, dead Oleander wood remains highly toxic, don't burn any dead wood you prune off later.

Resin