I'm not sure if we had a chance to talk about these to everyone who got them, and I had a couple of notes I wanted to share:

These were layered starts from plants at our other house (my aunt bought it, so I still have access to my gardens. Very convenient for me. LOL). I used them as foundation shrubs on the north side of the house, which never got any direct sun. I tried to start them in other places, and it seems to me they want NO direct sun, ever. In full shade they thrived, and got about six feet tall by three feet wide.

Every year in the coldest part of winter, the leaves would turn black. The first few years it happened I freaked and thought they were dead. But as soon as it warmed back up a bit, they came back out. Don't cut them back, just leave them alone and they'll green back up. :)