Which Daphne are you contemplating? D mezereum is a woodland plant and likes shade. D odora can take more sun but is fine in some shade or dappled light. D laureola is also a woodlander. D bholua is similar in likes to D odora.

I planted Daphne x burkwoodii 'Carol Mackie' on the northwest corner of my property. It gets filtered sunlight and is situated on a slope for good drainage. It seems to be very happy where it is and has doubled in size since I planted it 3 years ago.

i have mackie also .... nearly no direct light.. but pretty bright ...

i was told.. IF i recall properly ... that the issue with them is drainage and water management ...

I THINK.. they do not like wet roots.. leading to rot ... my garden is near pure mineral sand ....

i am not sure about all that ... so research it out yourself ... otherwise as to sun your site sounds good .. but you might be worrying about the wrong end of the plant.. lol ..

ken

I have Daphne odora in partial shade and it is at least ten years old. It gets more shade in summer when the Japanese maple it is under leafs out. It always blooms heavily. My soil is clay that has been topdressed with compost for fifteen years and I've expected it to croak but it hasn't.
I have transatlantica 'Summer Ice' in partial shade too. Only gets midday sun due to the house and neighbor's trees. Blooms for months.

I have D. transatlantica 'Summer Ice' in shade. I'm not sure if it gets any direct sun, but it has grown and bloomed for me for several years. The shade is medium since it is shaded by a line of large evergreen trees 20-30 feet to the south of it with large lilacs to the east and west. I think that it is the longest blooming plant in my garden; last year (an unusually early spring) it began in March and didn't stop until hard freeze in October.

OMG .... babs reminded me.. i have 4 others.. lol ..

in near full blistering MI sun ... in sand ... from noon to 6pm sun ...

no one has addressed the root/soil/drainage issue ... they do not like a lot of water.. and the CM .. once established NEVER got watered ....

i could not grow them at the old house.. in high-humus MI peat ... here in the sand.. no problems ...

ken

we are talking about the FLOWERING SHRUB daphne .... yes???

it is not a perennial ...

there is a forum for shrubs... but i am not sure you would get other opinions.. may as well try it ...

ken

Aren't most shrubs perennial? Or at least, aren't they all perennial in the climates that they're adapted to? Are there any shrubs that you would consider true annuals? I would assume that bobanda was intending his/her daphne to be perennial, which is why he/she asked about its long-term survival in the first place, right?

words mean things ....

gardeners GROUP things according to the rules we have to abide by ... i mean gardening rules ...

if i water and fertilizer shrubs like i do annuals .. a lot of shrubs will die ... they just dont need that much water nor fertilizer ...

same with perennials ...

if i prune a conifer like i would prune a shrub.. thru renovation pruning.. there is a good chance that i can kill the conifer ... especially if i cut it to the ground in spring.. like i might do to perennials ...

yes.. anything that live more than 2 years .. is perennial ...

but the QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE begins by defining what you are dealing with .. and then searching for information based on gleaned knowledge ...

it is not about where the post is made .. but it might have a lot to do with who hangs out in which forum ...

the tree peeps.. hang out in the conifer forum.. because both are trees ... and a lot of those folks also jump into the shrub forum once in a while ...

but .. based on my observation .. not all the tree/shrub experts hang out in the perennial forum ..

so my suggestion was simply that if you want more opinion.. there may be other places to look ...

check out the link ... quote from this link:

http://landscaping.about.com/od/shrubsbushes/p/daphne_plants.htm

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: Grow 'Carol Mackie' daphne plants in a well-drained soil with plenty of humus and a neutral pH. Partial sun is usually the recommended growing location for these daphnes.

Does it really matter what forum the question is posted in? Judging by the responses, there's enough visitors here that grow daphne to be able to answer the OP's question. And shrubby type perennials - like lavender for example - get asked about here all the time and don't get directed elsewhere.

Cultural and care requirements are not determined by plant groupings (trees, shrubs, conifers, perennials, etc.) but rather by the specifics of the plant itself. Most daphnes are quite shade tolerant but a good many, especially the summer blooming varieties, can be grown in full sun. About the only thing they all require in common is good drainage - soil pH preference or tolerance, sun/shade conditions and difficulty in growing all varies widely by selection.

(Just an FYI Ken - I would not consider a "landscaping.about.com" website a particularly reliable source :-))

Here is a link that might be useful: Arnold Arboretum's Demystifying Daphnes

I sincerely thank everyone for their HELPFUL comments. This has given me a lot to look into and in ken_adrian's words, I'll begin to "research it out" myself. I am looking forward to adding a good daphne to my collection of THRIVING plants.

I would be remiss though if I let the attitude slide. I'm 28 years old and have been a homeowner a whopping 6 months. I've seen one daphne in my entire life, in a stranger's garden. I came on here asking for help looking to do well by my plants and my garden and I got attitude for not classifying a plant as directly as I should?!?!

You take yourself more seriously than is good for you ...

I have a very lovely Daphne odora in a raised bed foundation planting about two feet high on the north side of the house. When I originally planted it from a two gallon container the wooden form containing the soil was redwood. After about 10 years the wood rotted out and I removed the wood and rebuilt the box out of concrete interlocking blocks. The Daphne was so well rooted in the raised soil and down into the native soil there was no falling away of the soil when the wood supports were removed. When originally planted the native soil was mixed 50% with vegetative finished compost. About 20 old rusty nails were mixed with the soil at the suggestion of a professional nurseryman. This winter after 3 years with the concrete box for the first time I noticed a leaf chlorosis pretty evenly distributed over the plant. I applied a liquid iron mix to the soil and quickly remedied the problem. I have never fertilized, only top dressed with compost. I will push some more rusty nails into the soil when I next top dress. My wife prunes it back when ever it starts to block her view from the picture window and I regularly take cuttings for starting new plants. Al