'Brigadoon' is a gold-leafed form of the groundcover St John's Wort, Hypericum calycinum. Not exactly a shrub, although it does produce somewhat woody stems. In my area, Hypericum calycinum is an extremely aggressive groundcover and can consume large areas of real estate if left to its own devices. It is very good for hard to maintain areas like sunny banks or 'hell strips'. I would NOT recommend planting it in a mixed border however, although the golden form may very well not be as aggressive in its habit. It is also very prone to rust in this area, which is rather disfiguring by the end of the season. It is not evergreen and benefits from a good trimming once or twice a season to keep the clump dense and tidy.

Was good in parking strips and other shady, sheltered rooty places under low-branching Thuja plicata in this area and that's about it. Nuisance factor of top growth burning every winter (in the open) but persisting, having to be pruned away in spring added to markedly by arrival of rust which discolors foliage during growing season. So even where sheltered enough not to scorch in winter probably now being spoiled by rust.

If you have the same rust there it seems there would be little hope of having unmarred solid yellow leaves without an effective control program.

First paragraph was about typical green-leaved plant, not yellow-leaved cultivar.

Thanks for this post and the thoughtful responses. I'm planning a large shrub island-bed. So far, I've installed a scattering of 6 cotinus ' Winecraft Black' in the southern half, and 3 willow shrubs with fine, silver-blue foliage towards the middle of the bed. I'm learning the salix lovelies are not so nana as stated on the tag, but get upwards of 12' tall, so placing them towards the middle of the island bed may be a stroke of luck enough in keeping them. I love the burghundy stems and movement, to be a fine substitution for a tall grass, but the willow shrubs won't have to be dug up and divided after a few years. I do not have heavy equipment. I digress.....I'm thinking of placing around 20 hypericum 'Brigadoon' to spread around, shaded behind the cotinus. I like the Brigadoon for both the color contrast between the dark cotinus and silver salix and also for its short, creeping stature. And I don't want to make the same kind of mistake I made two years ago in spurging on a new, yellow-foliaged eryngium that just burned and looked necrotic all season. Perhaps the curse of gold-foliaged, full-sun perennials? I thought the answer to shielding the hypericum was conveniently shading them with the cotinus, but now I'm considering wind burn, too? Any suggestions for a hypericum substitute for a hot, sunny, dry, and windy location in zone 6 Michigan?

You might want to look at Spirea 'Ogon', one of my favorite shrubs. Highly deer resistant too.