Propagation
Take soft tip cuttings from spring to summer and semi hardwood cuttings from summer to autumn.

Take hardwood cuttings during winter.
This shrub transplants easily, wrap the root ball and keep moist.

Culture
As a hedge this plant 450mm (18in) apart and train to the appropriate hight, between 1 to 2m (3 to 6ft) and lightly trim regularly during the growing period. As a shrub cut back hard after flowering to a node and this will encourage new growth and flowering.

Unpruned shrubs become leggy and woody. The plant also responds to extra water during dry summers, and the addition of complete fertiliser during spring results in faster growth.


Botanic information
Leaf: The glossy dark green ovate leaves have a crenate to serrate margin and the colour becomes reddish during winter. It has an acute apex and a cuneate base. The short petiole is up to 4mm (?in) long and the underside is glabrous, pale green. The small ovoid buds have 2-loose scales.

Flower: The funnelform flower is coloured white and flushed with mauve pink. They are arranged in an axillary cyme or terminal panicle in groups of 3 to 5, appearing on the new growth throughout summer. The 5 red tinged sepals are persistent on the plant from late summer to midwinter.

Fruit: The one seeded leathery berry is not commonly produced and the plant is normally reproduced vegetatively.