I purchased this 2 feet tall shrub in June.I kept it on my sunny balcony all summer and it flowered profusely!Trouble was that the leaves were curling up and were as dry as paper and dropping off.But it kept on blossomming.I removed the dead flowers as soon as they were done,kept it well watered and there was no sign of bug infestation that I could see.Now that I have brought it in for the winter, what do I do?Prune it,how severely?But what puzzles me is the drying of the leaves.I have had oleanders before and kept them inside ,they bloomed a lot and the leaves never looked that pale and dry.Where did I go wrong? Should I change the soil and if so,when?The plant is still in the container I bought it in(plastic).I do not want to loose it,of course.Can anyone come up with some pertinent help please?
Re-pot into fresh soil right away and let up a bit on the watering. Oleander are very drought hardy and will tolerate being a bit dry. One of mine did the crinkly leaves thing when we had three weeks solid of rain; it seemed to be the plant's reaction to drowning. I had to dig it up out of the garden, and put it in a pot for the porch. If it's in regular potting soil, that may be part of the problem. Oleanders like good drainage; it should be in something more similar to Cactus mix. You can prune it fairly severely if you wish; this will make it bushier. So long as you leave about 50% of the plant intact it will be OK. Oh, and be cautious of the sap and prunings and dried leaves, and dispose of them carefully; it's a persistently toxic plant. Or, it could be an actual disease. See http://agfacts.tamu.edu/D10/Travis/AG/HomeHort/F1/noleander.htm for more information...