I LOVE them! I have 2, in half whiskey barrels. I first saw them as large, stunning shrubs in a yard in my neighborhood. After I learned what they were, I searched for them, but the nicest ones I found at first were $175 each. I eventually found them at a reasonable price, and I've been completely happy with them. They are easy to grow, not fussy at all.

Palm Beach Zoo has them all over the landscape, and they can get huge. Mine are lollipop shaped, about 5' tall and 3-4' wide.

Something preys on the leaves. The ones at the Zoo were chewed up.

They can be trimmed as standards (trees) or grown as shrubs.

Here is one of mine last year. It has grown a lot.

I'd really like to know why the pure white leaves do not sunburn, like they do on other plants. The multicolored leaves alone are reason to grow this beautiful plant. The flowers are icing on the cake!

Lisa

Wow yours is huge!
I got a small one in a trade and planted it out, it froze and didn;t come back but I took cuttings before that and 2 rooted and are growing now. I will dig them, containerize them and take them back into the greenhouse this winter. Its too nice a plant to have it stay so small.

Mine is grown as a standard and is 10ft tall now. It flowers all the time with pretty yellow flowers. I love it and it isn't fussy.

I did have some problem with it reverting back to all green, but I think it might have gotten too much fertilizer. Sometimes DH helps me with this task. The new leaves appear to be coming back in multi color.

That is funny Katkin about hubby.I have been two years converting mine to organics.He couldnt bring himself spray to use organics on his St Aug so he did nothing.It looked AWFUL!Finally I found ironite and worm tea and other organics that he could hose around and it looks great. I think it makes them feel more like a man. I think it is male instinct to spray their territory! (just teasing men!)Anyway he is sold on organics.
Thanks all for info on the tree.

I have one that will grow into a 25 - 30 ft. tree. It's about 10' now and I grew it from a 5' sapling about 2 years ago. Very fast growers. I love it. It has beautiful yellow flowers that fade to red by the end of the day, but they drop and cause a lot of stuff to pick up. But they are so pretty they are worth it. I have had trouble with those horrible Sri Lankan beetles who have eaten the leaves. The information on them says nothing will kill them but I finally found a Bayer product that did the job. Well worth buying this tree it because it is very tolerant of all neglect. There is nothing I don't love about it... except picking up all those dead flowers! ;-)

Please help! I was gifted a branch of this tree with a trunk. It was green now the leaves are brown. I continued to water and its in direct sun. Tell me is the tree dead. Thanks.