Author Topic: What might this plant be? Bought it marked down with no tag? (Read 2176 times)

Ky Kim · « **on:** September 24, 2007, 10:32:29 AM »

It was on clearence and needed a home, so I bought it. More of a challenge than anything to see if I can make it come back and grow. Just wonder what it is, it was originally 20.00 I got it for 5.00. Its around 5 foot tall, other than that I have no other clues. Oh, it does look like it had a bloom at one time.

Kim

tammie · « **Reply #1 on:** September 24, 2007, 10:38:34 AM »

I'm going to take a guess - oleander
Tammie

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #2 on:** September 24, 2007, 10:40:48 AM »

It almost looks like "freeway shrub" or something like that since it's grown along the freeways here. Garden shop name = oleander. Flowers possibly pink (some shades from light to dark), red or white. Very drought tolerant. Grows like crazy!

That's my guess.

Ky Kim · « **Reply #3 on:** September 24, 2007, 12:06:45 PM »

and those are poisonous.......ooops. I'll just keep it in my greenhouse for now I guess, I might end up tossing it. I have cats and dogs, only safe place would be my front yard. But then there are strays that I wouldn't want to poison either.

Kim

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #4 on:** September 24, 2007, 12:29:14 PM »

I think the only hazard would be a small child ingesting the leaves or flowers. They're grown everywhere here (parks and greenbelts) and I think animals or pets would know better. I use to have them in my yard but a disease wiped them out which also affected many in the area. Not my favorite of plants but the blossoms are pretty.

Ky Kim · « **Reply #5 on:** September 24, 2007, 01:15:34 PM »

My smallest child is 10, so I guess it would be alright. Maybe I will just leave it in the greenhouse in a pot for the winter, just to see if it will come back from the way it looks now. Then sit it on the porch next summer.

Kim

Jerry · « **Reply #6 on:** September 24, 2007, 03:06:32 PM »

Oleander here too.
Hey! Everything that isn't food is poisonus. Look under the kitchen sink.
I never heard of a kid getting sick from one, now peanuts are something else!

Did you ever hear of the peanut allergies when you were a kid?

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #7 on:** September 24, 2007, 07:27:28 PM »

As a kid the only allergies I heard of was hay fever and boys I had a really bad case of it especially running through open fields.

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 26, 2007, 10:43:12 AM »

Yes, it is an Oleander.

Johns · « **Reply #9 on:** September 26, 2007, 12:59:05 PM »

Here is an Oleander. Draw your own conclusions.

Deadly in all forms. Grown all over the south.

Jerry · « **Reply #10 on:** September 28, 2007, 12:49:07 PM »

Anette, watch out for boys in open fields!

Ky Kim · « **Reply #11 on:** September 28, 2007, 03:53:15 PM »

I gave it away.

Kim

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #12 on:** September 28, 2007, 05:10:28 PM »

Too Late Jerry!!

Jerry · « **Reply #13 on:** September 28, 2007, 10:13:34 PM »

A good choice Kim, I was being polite before. Unless seriously looked after, pruned, shaped, etc. I think it's poor plant.
Yes, good on the freeway on the way to Bakersfield. They are hardy!

Vickie · « **Reply #14 on:** September 29, 2007, 01:46:03 PM »

I have one in a pot and keep it under a tree buy one of my water gardens. It is out of the way and my dogs or cat does not go where it is. They sell them at work, and I have warned them they better tell people with dogs and children they are poision.

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #15 on:** October 05, 2007, 08:44:24 AM »

Oleanders are very heavily used as landscape plants all over the world. As are many, many other plants that are poisonous. Small children and pets are more likely to chew on houseplants.

There are many cat poisonings by potted lilies. The leaves look like grass. Don't get potted Easter lilies if you have indoor cats.

Other common poisonous plants include: Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Ivy (All of the Hedera helix ivies, common ivy, English ivy, Algerian ivy too)
Daffodils
Datura, Brugmansia, Castor beans

Philodendrons, Dieffenbachias

If we stopped growing or selling all plants that are poisonous in some way, our gardens would be half empty!

Johns · « **Reply #16 on:** October 06, 2007, 11:36:22 AM »

My dogs have coexisted with oleander for many years, and if Beagles are smart enough not to eat it, probaly most dogs are.

By the way, the most poisonous plant you can grow in your garden is not oleander, or even digitalis (foxglove), but Ricinus communis, or Castor bean plant. Per Wikipedia "Ricin has an average lethal dose in humans of 0.2 milligrams (1/5,000th of a gram)." (This is the plant that gives us castor oil.) The problem with castor beans is that they are pretty little smooth beetle looking jewels that children often want to put in their mouths. Three of the beans can kill a child. I have a yard full of castor bean plants (fenced in). My dogs do not bother them at all and I always warn people with children who visit not to pick up the beans.

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #17 on:** October 08, 2007, 04:08:26 PM »

They are really cool looking seeds/beans. Great texture too. I remember playing with them as a kid. Grandmother about had a heart attack. The markings varied on them, I thought they were really cool. I was old enough not to put random items into my mouth....

Johns · « **Reply #18 on:** October 09, 2007, 06:54:53 AM »

LeeAnne,

Thankfully you did not eat them. I am amazed that I did not, since they are such smooth, tempting little seeds. but then, I played with sheets of dusty asbestos siding back in the forties and dodged that bullet so far as well. went to our fiftieth high school reunion last weekend and one of our classmates delivered a speech documenting all the now classified as dangerous activites things we did and survived. (Example: the fluoroscope we used to stick our feet in to check the fit of new shoes. See http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.htm ).

Also how we used to save mercury from broken thermometers to coat dimes and pennies (with our fingers, of course) to make them shiney.

Of course, you told me in person about some of the dangerous behavior of your generation (Which I will not go into here). Still isn't it still a wonder we are still here?

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #19 on:** October 09, 2007, 11:20:34 AM »

LOL Yes, it is a wonder. I had a mercury coated penny too.