A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Oleander Virus.

I was going to purchase four dozen oleanders for a job that I am doing when I was clued in that there was a problem with a virus and they were going to die off in a few years.
So I came home and googled "oleander disease" and sure enough. There it was. A no cure bacterial thing cuased by a sharpshooter fly. Started in Palm Springs, Ca. and is already in my area.
Just a warning for anyone relying on years of service from this shrub. I would be wasting my client/friend's money purchasing this.
I'm sure glad that I am learning all of the advantages to the info available on the Web.

Just out of curiosity;
Why would someone want to plant oleander?
I spend quite a it of time killing the wild stuff when it appears in homeowners yards.
Is this a common landscape shrub in California?

Nerium oleander is a commonly used shrub in Cal. Because it can take the heat and winds and such and still be green and bloom. It is poisonous and has a few other defects other than the new disease but it has a lot of uses here. It is often used along our freeways and parkways.
I didn't think it could survive the cold winters of your zone. My google search had it from zone 8-11.

& the blooms (6 months or more) smell wonderful.

Some plants get a bad rap due to being poisonous. People plant poisonous plants all the time. They do not realize it because they are less notorious.