I've always just blasted any plants with aphids with water blasts from my hose. I used to get them bad on 50 oleanders that lined the back side of my back yard in Texas City. That worked pretty well, since hand picking wasn't practical. Bought a bag of ladybugs (I hoped real ladybugs) and set them among the trees and the problem then was only bad on the new shoots in spring if I had to cut them down to the ground after a hard freeze. That approach for aphids has always worked on roses, too. I will reach for the neem oil on small plants though. Don't want to blast them to death. ;)
