Strongly agree with the Caution! on planting this - it sure does send out those suckers a long way. Mine are planted within the root zone of my large Live Oak trees, so they have a much harder time spreading. In a less established landscape, or with less competition, the suckers could be a real menace.

It is truly a lovely shrub, both foliage and flowers are very attractivem but another reason to be cautious is that the bloom time here is mid-winter -- January, in fact. In the five years I have had mine, only two of those years were warm enough for the plant to bloom. So, I would say that unless you live in zone 10 or above, do not expect to see blooms regularly.

Mine also drop all their leaves if the weather stays cold - around 40 degrees or less - for more than a night or two. I had planted a row of them as a screen, so this ended badly for 3 years running. If they do drop their leaves, I then take the opportunity to prune them back drastically, so that they will go back to a more shrubby shape the next year. I think if they kept their leaves more than one winter, I would end up with a row of small trees (and many suckers) instead of large screening shrubs. I have now inter-planted them with variegated Ti, so at least there is something with leaves through the winter.

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This is a lovely plant with beautiful leaf coloring of deep green above & burgundy below & the leaf texture adds to it's beauty, not to mention the pretty blooms.
CAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED WHEN DECIDING WHETHER TO PLANT THIS:
Once established it will put out numerous, fast growing underground suckers. They grow almost overnight & are difficult to dig up. They will travel long distances. I planted this once & ended up deeply regretting it. The suckers were showing up 30' away from the mother plant. They were also able to travel down 3' then horizontally 2 1/2 feet then up on the other side of a footer for a cinder block wall. I have seen them travel underneath sidewalks to pop up on the other side.
It is my opinion this plant should be considered invasive & avoided at all costs.

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