Cleyera Species, Sakaki

I have a few small shrubs of cleyera japonica. The shrubs are established here 3 years in a partially shaded area, and seem to need more...Read More light because they are leaning over toward a sunnier spot...(I'm planning on moving them). They are currently growing in soil that is probably acidic since they are beneath oak trees. We are in a terrible drought this year but they survived the lack of rain and I only watered them once or twice. The shiny leather-like leaves are beautiful deep green and at the (apex?) the stems are a bright red. Up close they are beautiful and wonderful to the touch. In the fall and winter, the leaves take on a mottled appearance of bronze, burgundy and gold but they are green again the next season. I've never seen these 3 year olds bloom yet. Their beauty is in their keeping leaves all winter and adding their foliage texture and color to the garden and they seem hardy here in spite of extreme heat waves, drought, and occasional freezes during January.

This shrub is commonly grown as a landscape plant along the gulf coast. They are somewhat boring to look at and therefore have never been...Read More a favorite of mine.

Cleyera japonica (do not mix up with Japanese Cleyera, species Ternstroemia gymnanthera) comes from the humid forests of China and Japan,...Read More where it´s known as Sakaki. It is a short tree or shrub that reaches 5 m tall. It has shiny, deep green, evergreen foliage, with medium sized leaves (6-10 cm long). The flowers are small, scented, axilar, with cream coloured petals. The fruits are globous or conical capsules.

It is hardy in zone 7, but I don´t know how much heat it can take. It needs full sun to partial shade, high moisture and fertile but acidic soil. There is a variegated cultivar, on which the leaf edges are white.