Oleander Questions - Need Answers

Hi everybody,

I am on the bottom of the "beginner gardener" totem pole. My husband and I just bought a new house, and I learned from my neighbor that this big beautiful bush with pink flowers in my back yard is an oleander. I have 2 small dogs who eat grass like it's going out of style. I am just so relieved that they haven't already chowed down on this particular plant, but needless to say, it has to go. I'm giving it to the neighbor who identified it for me.

My boss lives near here, and he has big beautiful banana trees in his yard, and he offered to bring us some clippings and plant them in my yard.

My question is, if I plant the bananas in the hole where the oleander was, is there any chance at all that the banana tree and/or the bananas themselves would be poisoned? Is there any particular way that I need to dig up the oleander to ensure that it stays alive for my neighbor and doesn't grow back or infect my banana plant?

Thanks for any insight you may offer!
Audra

I doubt it would have any effect on the bananas. As far as getting it ready to transplant, you need to dig up as much of the rootball as possible--if you don't get enough of its roots with it then it won't survive the move. It won't resprout from bits of root, so as long as you dig it up (vs cutting it down) there's no way for it to regrow (unless it dropped some seeds in the area before you remove it). Also be aware that this is the absolute worst time of year to be transplanting things, so if there's any way you can wait until fall both the banana and the oleander will have a much better chance. Can you put some fencing around the area to keep the dogs away from it?

Have your dogs actually shown interest in it or any other plants in your yard besides the grass? A lot of dogs like to eat grass but that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to tear into other plants. My dog loves to eat grass but has never even tried to touch anything else in the garden. Some dogs are more "omnivorous" than others so if yours are getting into lots of things then it's not a bad idea to get rid of it, but many times animals are smart enough to stay away from the poisonous things (they don't tend to taste very good)

you aren't going to do this until cooler weather, are you? it's very stressful to move shrubs, esp. in the South, in the worst heat of the summer. (I was thinking of the plants, but it's stressful on the gardener, too!)

Most animals stay away from this plant. In fact, I don't know any animal that would eat it. I have a lot of them growing on my property as a natural screen and we have cats and dogs all over and they are fine. It is a great screen for privacy etc.

As for planting bananas in their spot.....make sure they are out of the wind as the leaves are easily damaged and they tend to fall over in my area with hurricane/monsoon winds. They are a beautiful plant.

As for the oleander...it sounds like it's established and that means the root system is also established. One of the hardest plants to get rid of is the oleander if you don't get all the roots. Very little kills this plants besides the disease that is destroying this plant in some areas. Make sure you get the entire rootball out...if you don't, it will come back again:) Some people throw noxious chemicals on the roots to "burn" the thing...but if you are putting bananas in that spot, you may not want to do that.....good luck!!

I think that oleander is so pretty! I am farther north and it doesnt make it through the winter here.

I live in Tulsa Oklahoma. What types of shade loving ferns can I plant in my carden and at what time of the year? This area of planting would be facing east under some trees.

Thanks for your help. Marcy

I live in Tulsa Oklahoma. What types of shade loving ferns can I plant? What time of year? This location faces east with early afternoon shade.

Hi Marcy, I would recommend starting a new thread for your question--since this thread is about oleanders the people who know a lot about ferns may not even open it. To start a new thread, go back to the main page for this forum http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/b_gardentalk/all/ and up at the top of the page right underneath the navigation tabs you'll see a link that says "post a new thread".

Remember oleander is very posionous. Even breathing the smoke from burning cut off branches is posionous. If you like your boss you plan to give it to be sure and tell him this! ;) It is a beautiful plant to grow when precautions are taken. Also, some types of bananas can really be invasive and spread before you know it.

I am 67 years old and have grown up with a lot of dogs out in the country with many more oleanders used a wind break. Not one dog has ever bothered to eat them..........let alone get sick. The only place we can't use oleanders is along a fence line because cattle eat anything they can find.

Personally, I wouldn't give one thought to worry about my dogs and oleanders mixed together.......