Unruly

Sweet box (Sarcococca confusa) doing its thing - its thing being to flower in mid-winter, with small, unshowy clusters of white flowers that are nevertheless strongly scented. And, as you see, its other thing is to bear both fruit and flowers at the same time. This is not some strange, climate-chaos aberration; it is regarded as normal for these plants. I don't know if that means 'normal in UK' or normal also in its Asian (possibly Chinese) homeland - being in an unfamiliar climate might mess with its behaviour

Everything I have read about it emphasises its tolerance. It thrives in shade, or in poor soil; it copes with double-digit (C) frost, or pollution; it doesn't need pruning, or any particular attention, but if you want to cut it back, that's fine; no particular pest or disease problems. Much of this I can verify. The wall in the background used to extend over the area where it is growing; the foundations are still there. We have thrown a few cm of soil over the buried rocks and planted these on top. If plants had shoulders, it would have shrugged them and just got on with the job of getting itself established. The 'Incredible Hulk' of the cottage garden

The black berries are, several sources tell me, eaten by birds. Our birds didn't get the memo (or menu). Blackbirds, finches, fieldfare and wood pigeon have stripped the rowan, holly and cotoneaster, but turned their beaks up at these. The only interest has come from the escapee hens from next door, and even they didn't come back for seconds

It is sold as a possible alternative to 'normal' box (Buxus sempervirens), now that box-tree caterpillars are becoming a serious pest. Its leaves are significantly larger, and I think it would be difficult to create the same precisely-trimmed, ultra-neat effect that enthusiasts for traditional box hedges aim for. I've also seen a suggestion it could be a more interesting alternative to a privet garden-hedge; if ours ever get that big, I'll see what we can do