Pruning Oleanders

Time Frame

• Oleanders perfume the air with blooms from the late spring to summer or longer, and they produce flowers on new growth. Prune oleander immediately after it ceases flowering up to early autumn or wait until winter passes and prune in early spring, before your shrub resumes its growth. Don't prune after September, since pruning too close to winter could leave the plant vulnerable to injury.

Size

• Standard oleanders typically mature at a width and height of eight to 12 feet, though some shrubs can grow as tall as 20 feet. Dwarf cultivars remain much smaller, topping out at three to five feet in height and width. While you should always plant oleander in a space that offers it enough room to mature, trimming your shrub can help you maintain a desired size and shape. Oleander naturally grows in a bushy globe form, which you can maintain with pruners.

Technique

• Always remove dead, diseased or damaged branches to protect the health of your shrub. Look for bent or broken growth and remove it. If two branches cross each other, remove one of them since the friction will damage the wood over time. Trim back the tips of long branches to maintain your oleander's size. Then, thin out the canopy so air and light can filter through your shrub. Do not remove more than one-third of the growth in a given year.

Tree Oleander

• So-called tree oleander has been trained to grow with a single trunk comprised of one or several shoots and thus, has a different look and feel from sprawling shrubs. If your oleander has been trained this way, remove any offshoots that grow from the main "trunk" to keep your single stem. Remove competing shoots at the top of the trunk so it continues to grow up. Trim the branches to control their length and remove crossed, damaged or broken branches.