We have S.ruscifolia and trim it only once right after it flowers and occasionally only to control size.So far no problems with that regime.We have lots of them and have enough flowers to enjoy.Just prune it more drastically only once a year right after they flower and a bit after as needed.They don't require frequent pruning at all.The berries are very enjoyable also ( present right now) Our S is about 4 years young and so far no complaints.
Hope it works out for you.

S. confusa froze to the ground at the Seattle arboretum during 1990. For various reasons the best one is S. hookeriana var. digyna, it also has a more slender habit. Unfortunately, usually not seen at local outlets. They have been displaying some stock so-labeled this month at Christianson's, near Mt Vernon, so somebody in the region must have grown some and put it on the market fairly recently.

Slender habit?? I'd disagree. My hookeriana var. digyna is a good 5' across - this is a heavily suckering form of Sarcococca, much like the smaller growing humilis but perhaps even more aggressive in this regard. As these clients are not into garden maintenance of any serious sort, a suckering shrub is not gonna work in this location. They will have someone to do pruning 2-3 times a season so maintaining non-suckering hedge material is much more reasonable. Digyna also has a much different appearance than other forms of Sarcococca and the very dark green, shiny foliage of confusa or ruscifolia is what they are going for. And I'm not overly concerned about hardiness - this is a rather well protected location and IME, ALL forms of sarcococca are satisfactorily reliable here.

Thanks for your comments, scarleta. Would you share the size of your ruscifolia hedge? I need to keep this at about an 18-20" width, max. Would annual pruning much like you practice achieve this result and still provide good flowering?

They all have a suckerous habit, of course. And the more arching, top-heavy ones like S. confusa and S. ruscifolia will be more likely to reach out to the side, defeating removal of whole stems near the base - which could otherwise be used to restrict diameter without snipping at the tops.

That's where the more slender comes into it - the branching structure, not the sideways growth of the whole patch.

I'd never use a plant for an architectural feature like a hedge that I had seen freeze to the ground well inside the city limits of Seattle - unless the other people involved wouldn't be bothered by having the same thing happen again sometime. I don't remember any of the other species in the same genus planted on the same site exhibiting this problem.

5 year old Sarcoccoca ruscifolia plants on the north side of my house are 4 feet wide. They would look ghastly hacked back to 20 inches. Even if they were clipped from the start this is a waste of labor and a plant that looks best with it's naturally spreading habit.

Yep.

and this is a deep shade situation (accounting for the choice of sarcococca) evergreen huckleberry might do the job. Perhaps edible fruit is an acceptable trade for floral fragrance in this situation.

I've seen Osmanthus burkwoodii look decent in this kind of situation. It still hurts me when the natural cascading shape is sheered away, but you'll get your sun to part sun evergreen with fragrant white flowers.

Gardengal:
"Thanks for your comments, scarleta. Would you share the size of your ruscifolia hedge? I need to keep this at about an 18-20" width, max. Would annual pruning much like you practice achieve this result and still provide good flowering?"
So I have few of them around and each is different size ( space requirements and light etc) The ones that have more space (more than 20") are best performers.Some that don't have as much space and light do perform well but so far I am yet to see them flower.Some were drastically cut and they are ok but not yet flowering.Hope this helps you.I have lots of them so if one does not perform well in the flowering department it still looks good and I like them for their low maintenance.

The annual flowering of the formally sheared Delavay osmanthus hedge at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle shows that this shrub is suitable for this use. However, it is not a deep shade shrub like sarcococca. Partial shade is acceptable to it.

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I'm going with the alternate plant, which was my first choice to begin with. What I really needed was a narrow, solid green backdrop - the client posed the idea of sarcococca because flowering anything seems to preferrable to her than non- or inconspicuous flowering. I should know by now just to stick with my instincts :-))

OK Gardengal, tell us what your alternative plant is....

Yes, please do tell us. I was going to do a Sarcococca hedge but now I won't.

Euonymus japonicus 'Green Spire'. Not a very exciting plant, but totally functional for this purpose.

The U.S. National Arboretum presents Euonymus japonicus 'Green Spire', a
remarkable euonymus from Japan

Here is a link that might be useful: greensp6.pdf

Yeah, I've seen that site before. It's a little like Dirr's photos which generally represent the largest example of that specimen he could find.....not exactly typical. I am much more comfortable basing my size expectations on my experience and the mature plants I've seen in landscapes. Besides, the euonymus is very adaptable to pruning.

Here is a link that might be useful: a bit more typical......

I'm assuming the specimen shown on the USNA page is the 21-year-old they mention in the accompanying text. Interesting shape, looks like an Embothrium.