Now, this is the perfect outdoor plant for covering the dull corners of your garden and backyard. It produces yellow color flowers.
It blooms for many months and stays green for 365 days. Generally, it is a strong plant with an extraordinary immune system.
But the problems come only in extremely cold winters. On these days your Yellow Oleander plant starts dropping leaves and becomes weak.
It will start growing again right after the winters and stay green for many months.
To know more about its care, watering and propagation read the below guide.
About Yellow Oleander
Native to Central America and Mexico, also famous with other names, the popular name is Cascabela Thevetia.
Under ideal growing conditions, it reaches 6 to 9 feet tall and spread 4 to 6 feet. You can use trimming tools to keep it at a moderate height.
As the name suggests it produces beautiful trumpet-shaped yellow flowers. These flowers are bright, and beautiful, and release a mild fragrance.
Generally, the flowers are 2 inches long but there are a few varieties that produce 4 inches long flowers.
The sap of the plant and some other parts are toxic to pets and humans.
In order to grow it perfectly fine, the first thing that you need to do is arrange a large space for it. This is the reason we prefer it growing in our outdoor garden.
Light Needs
This plant is not suitable for the indoor environment. The reason is it needs plenty of sunshine to grow and indoors, we have a limited amount of sunlight.
Due to insufficient sunlight. The plant will grow leggy and will not produce flowers. Yellow flowers are its real beauty.
Therefore, for better results grow it in your outdoor garden or use a large container to grow it outdoors. This way you can bring it inside in hard cold winters.
Full sun is not a problem for it, just expose it to the direct sun rays and it will thrive like crazy.
But if you want to try it indoors then a south-facing window will be the best option. The main aim is to give it enough amount of sunshine.
So that it can grow long stems and produce tones of yellow flowers.
Potting Soil
When growing it outdoors no need to amend your garden soil with any substance except compost.
Because compost adds many essential nutrients to the soil and they are necessary for growing large plants like yellow oleander.
Indoors, use lightweight soil that drains well and can also hold the weight of the plant and support its structure.
Do not use sand in the potting soil mix. Compost + regular soil and peat are three excellent ingredients for growing and caring for indoor growing Oleander.
General-purpose potting soil is best to use instead of regular garden soil to avoid root rot like fungal diseases.
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Watering Yellow Oleander
Yellow Oleander needs a high amount of water for its whole life. This thirsty plant needs more water when it blooms.
In summers and spring, you need to keep eye on the soil. Because it absorbs water at a fast rate this makes the soil dry which is deadly for the plant.
Watering-loving plants cannot handle dry soil in summer and spring.
This is the active growing season and plants produce leaves and stems at this time.
For watering your Oleander plant use water that sits at room temperature. Hot or cold water gives a shock to plant roots.
For better growth use filtered water, use tap water only if it is certified for drinking and making food. Because in some parts of the country the tap is not suitable for drinking and watering plants.
Fertilizing
If the soil is pre-fertilized then you will not need to use them separately. But if you only have compost in the soil then you might need to use fertilizers.
The best time will be when you see buds on the stems.
Give a nutritional boost to your plant and it will produce a good number of leaves and flowers.
This is the time when a plant spends most of its energy to produce flowers and it also needs a high amount of energy.
Fertilizers full fill this need. Regular plant fertilizer will work best for it.
Temperature & Humidity
Do not allow the room temperature to drop below 25 degrees F if growing indoors. Because below this level your plant roots start suffering.
The soil loses its warmth and the roots get a cold shock.
To avoid this condition, use the mulching technique right before the winter season.
For humidity keep it above 50 %. This will help your plant to grow in a good shape and to produce a good number of leaves.
You can use a plant humidifier to comfort indoor growing Yellow Oleanders.
Toxicity
Yellow oleander is not a 100% safe plant for humans and pets. The sap of the plant includes some harmful ingredients that are poisonous to us.
Vomiting, upset stomach, redness, etc are few common symptoms.
If you see any symptoms in your children or in pets immediately call the poison control center.
Repotting
This is a normal-height plant that grows slowly, this means you do not need to do frequent repotting.
Repot it just once in 3 years only when roots become visible or the soil becomes depleted.
Potting soil in containers loses its fertility over time. The plant roots absorb all the nutrients and at one stage fertilizers will also stop increasing potting soil fertility.
At this time, it is better to change the soil before it harms the growing plant.
Yellow Oleander Propagation
Stem cutting is the only best option over other propagation methods.
Choose a healthy stem that has no flowers at all. Then remove the leaves that are growing at the base of the stem.
The cutting must be 4 to 5 inches long with some leaves at the top.
Dip it in the rooting hormone and plant it in the potting soil. Then place the plant pot in a warm and humid place. This will increase the chances of successful rooting.
Conclusion
Despite its toxicity growers like to grow this plant because it has very beautiful flowers that release a pleasant fragrance.
To grow it perfectly you don’t need to do much work. Just follow this simple guide and grow it in a few days without facing any common houseplant problems.
Just be careful when watering your Yellow Oleander because excess of it can cause root rot and leaf rot.
