Yes, fothergilla is terrific, isn't it! I had Mt. Airy at my other house; here I have Blue Mist. They're suckering quite a bit in the front of the house where the soil is moister; the ones in the back are under a maple tree, which steals a lot of the moisture, but still they look good there -- just not as vigorous. Mine are just starting to bloom -- I adore the honey-ed scent! Carefree, impeccable foliage all season, and they're show-stoppers with that flamin' orange foliage in good fall color years. I can't think of one negative about fothergilla -- it's that good of a workhorse shrub.

Yup! Even the structure looks good in the winter ! I just added two mt.airy to my backyard. The scent was especially noticeable this year with the heavy bloom! Prior to this year I never noticed it as much!

Is there a trick to getting them as full and floriferous as yours? Pruning? Fertilizer? Age??

I did nothing special. This bed does have half of my driveway sloping towards it. I also added lots of good soil. So this is one of the wetter areas in my yard due to collecting driveway runoff and the soil holds moisture well. This is full sun with it getting a little break from the sun for a few hours midday.