Nerium oleander 'Hardy Pink' Open House for the polished trunks that

for the polished trunks that set this species apart from every rough-barked relative

pair with other sun-loving plants

Linnaeus returned the favor by attaching Kalm's name to this shrub and to the mountain laurels

the latter very likely the cultivar known as 'Firefly'

Additional photo courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden

Nerium oleander 'Hardy Pink' Open House for the polished trunks thatOleander, Nerium oleander, is the great sun loving evergreen of the Mediterranean, grown since antiquity for a long summer of bloom, with dark green, leathery, lance shaped leaves in whorls of three along long, sparingly branched stems. 'Hardy Pink' is one of the cold tougher selections, carrying showy, lightly fragrant clusters of clear rose pink flowers from late spring well into fall. Few shrubs are so at home in heat and hardship. Oleander has