Oleander In Bloom In Israel

Right about now I should be working on Succah decorations (truthfully I have enough in boxes in the attic for a few succahs, as you can imagine….) but instead I’ve been painting in my art journal and looking at some of my own photos for inspiration. Up the hill from my house and within our cobblestone paved “old city” sits this gated entrance, complete with a lovely oleander bush and a palm, that is so very picturesque and begging to be painted! Since I shared with you my oleander sketch earlier this week, I thought I would share photos of this special little spot, either as inspiration to plant some oleander, or to put paint brush or pen to paper, you decide!

Nerium oleander, most commonly known as nerium or oleander, is a shrub or small tree, cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant. It is so widely cultivated that no precise region of origin has been identified, though it is usually associated with the Mediterranean Basin.

Oleander grows to 2–6 m (6.6–19.7 ft) tall. It is most commonly grown in its natural shrub form, but can be trained into a small tree with a single trunk. It is tolerant to both drought and inundation, but not to prolonged frost, though my oleander in a pot has survived many a cold winter just fine. White, pink or red five-lobed flowers grow in clusters year-round, peaking during the summer. The fruit is a long narrow pair of follicles, which splits open at maturity to release numerous downy seeds. In Israel it is planted on the side of the highways, second only to bougainvillea!

This information is courtesy of Wikipedia:

Several compounds in nerium exhibit toxicity, and it has historically been considered a poisonous plant. However, its bitterness renders it unpalatable to humans and most animals, so poisoning cases are rare and the general risk for human mortality is low. Ingestion of larger amounts may cause nausea, vomiting, excess salivation, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea and irregular heart rhythm. Prolonged contact with sap may cause skin irritation, eye inflamation and dermatitis.

Nerium oleander is either native or naturalized to a broad area spanning from Northwest Africa and Iberian peninsula eastward through the Mediterranean region, to the Arabian peninsula, southern Asia, and as far east as Yunnan in southern parts of China. It typically occurs around stream beds in river valleys, where it can alternatively tolerate long seasons of drought and inundation from winter rains. Nerium oleander is planted in many subtropical and tropical areas of the world.

On the East Coast of the US, it grows as far north as Virginia Beach, Virginia, while in California and Texas miles of oleander shrubs are planted on median strips. There are estimated to be 25 million oleanders planted along highways and roadsides throughout the State of California. Because of its durability, oleander was planted prolifically on Galveston Island in Texas after the disastrous Hurricane of 1900. They are so prolific that Galveston is known as the ‘Oleander City’; an annual oleander festival is hosted every spring. Moody Gardens in Galveston hosts the propagation program for the International Oleander Society, which promotes the cultivation of oleanders. New varieties are hybridized and grown on the Moody Gardens grounds, encompassing every named variety.

Beyond the traditional Mediterranean and subtropical range of oleander, the plant can also be cultivated in mild oceanic climates with the appropriate precautions. It is grown without protection in southern England and can reach great sizes in London and to a lesser extent in Paris due to the urban heat island effect. This is also the case with North American cities in the Pacific Northwest like Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. Plants may suffer damage or die back in such marginal climates during severe winter cold but will rebound from the roots.

As you can see, the oleander in my container garden, above, is light pink and the blooms are not nearly as full as the oleander blooms that frame the gate.
I’ll admit I am tempted to go and pull off all those dead blooms, but with Yom Kippur coming up early next week, and Succot a week from Friday, well there are many other tasks at hand!

Happy gardening, hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Oleander!