On 1/3/2008 9:54 AM, Walter R. wrote:
I live in San Diego North County. My neighbor is going to cut down his 25
year old Nerium Oleander Hedge (Sister Agnes). He said there is a scorched
leaf disease that kills all Oleander shrubs. He is doing this on the advice
of his landscaper - who is biased, of course, because it means several
thousand dollars worth of business for him.

I was just going to plant another 15 Oleanders as a hedge.

Without sensation mongering by the media, just how much of a real threat is
this disease? All nurseries are selling Oleanders like crazy. There are many
thousand of miles of Oleanders on the median strips of Southern California
Freeways.

Would be nice to get an HONEST status report on what is going on.

Plant or not to plant, that is the question.

Thank you


Walter


P.S. If it is a really bad idea to plant oleanders, what could be recommend
as
a replacement: Blooms all summer, drought resistant, minimum ten feet tall,
nice looking, fast growing.



I had large white oleanders up the sides of my hill and smaller hot-red
oleanders across the top of the hill. They were beautiful in bloom, and
the bloom period lasted quite long through the late spring to early fall.

When my hill slipped in the heavy rain storms in January 2005, it had to
be regraded. That meant ALL vegetation had to be removed, including two
very productive grape vines that prevented parts of the hill from sliding.

The regrading was done this summer. My hill was recently replanted. I
wanted to go with the same oleanders, but both the grading contractor
and landscape contractor advised against replanting them. Both
contractors said that newly planted oleanders would survive only 5 or
fewer years. It made no difference in money to my landscape contractor
since most shrubs cost the same.

I now have Rhaphiolepis 'Majestic Beauty' up the sides. These should
grow tall enough to hide the chain link fences that separate my hill
from my neighbors' to either side. Across the top, I have coast
rosemary (Westringia fruticosa, not a true rosemary). This will barely
hide the chain link fence at the top, without growing so tall that the
neighbors uphill from me will complain about their views being blocked.
I told my uphill neighbors that they were free to trim the Westringia
to the same height as the fence. (One uphill neighbor already complains
that my evergreen ash (Fraxinus uhdei) blocks his view. The other
neighbor praises the same tree for giving privacy to his back yard.)

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/