I do not know if Fire and Ice has been out that long (6 years) but send a Gmail to greenhavenrdgarden and cearbhaill to see how old their F&Is are. I seem to think F&I started being sold recently (last few years only).

I remember that it popped into my radar as a result of all those Vanilla Strawberry pictures that I enjoyed looking at. Theeen, in its own ads that feel being recent -in the last few years only- F&I pictures showed magenta colors similar to VS so I again HADTO wow, salivate and of course, read the advertising. :o)

In reality, it probably has been out there 739 years and it only took VS-like pictures for me to notice it. I guess the advertising worked, hu?

I put in three F&I in 2013 and have never pruned them- I think the tallest parts are around four feet right now. They have not been a "gangbuster" grower but they are not in full sun either. I'll walk down there today and grab some photos for you as soon as it warms up a bit. I warn you, they are gangly as all get out- in fact I almost took some off them this year to shape them up but decided to wait another year.

They're supposed to reach 4-5' in diameter. As the years pass, it shouldn't be difficult to prune lightly to a nice shape!

Three planted 5/13 from Bluestone Perennials, so they were quite small.

Year of installation with dogfeet protection system engaged-

And today 5/16/16 almost exactly three years later- for reference the fence is six feet tall.

#1 below-

#2 below-

#3 below-

Yes, they all lean toward the sun.

The stems are quite strong- although they aren't large enough to flower profusely (and probably need more sun) I have never seen them sag. I hardly ever do anything for them- they have never once received supplemental water and I've had exactly zero problems with them. Probably tossed Holly Tone a time or two but they are on a bit of a slope so most washes down and just feeds the woods anyway.

For me they seem to be the kind of plant that you can prune to a shape if you want to or neglect and they do just fine. Pretty much perfect.

Thanks, cearbhaill! The photos are helpful, and I appreciate knowing that the stems seem strong. A couple of the places we are considering are next to paths, so knowing that they are less likely to be leaning out into the path is useful as well.

It sounds like this particular cultivar has been around a limited amount of time compared to some of the others, so I may not find anyone with more experience than you.