The plant made it through winter and summer. I planted it from a 3 gallon pot and it is now just over 3ft tall. It only pinked up around December last year. The pink was a pale pink and not particularly eye catching. It took the frosts well with no dead parts at the end of winter. It is planted in a shady corner that gets around 3 hours sun from 8 until 11 in the morning during summer. Full shade for the rest of the day. The leaves drooped every day during summer when it caught sun. It perked up again later in the afternoon. I had to water it every other day during mid summer to keep it happy. It had beautiful red flowers during spring that only lasted a short time before dropping off. The leaves are very fragrant when touched. The variegation stayed on all new growth. Photos from today. Unfortunately I don't have any photos from the pink phase. I'm happy with the plant as it does give interest to an otherwise plain shady spot.

I am in 6b and have grown Illicium floridanum for about 4 years. Each Spring it comes out looking battered and a bit scorched, but after a grooming session with the Felcos, it bounces back. The foliage is nice and the flowers are maroon and interesting, eventually turning to green starfish shaped seedheads. Nice foliage for along a path where you may brush against it. Virtually unheard of around here - I have only ever seen one in a landscape locally. Rx

Hard to suggest not knowing exactly how much sunlight this spot gets under the trees. I will say in reminder that you consider the mature width/bulk of whatever shrubs you choose and plant at least 2-3 feet away from the fence for better air flow for the health of the shrub. Use well rotted compost to amend the soil rather than commercial fertilizer because you don't want to be attracting more feeder roots of the big trees to sudden nutrients. Whatever you plant needs the first couple years to establish its roots among the tree root area so years 3-4 after install you should see more growth. I'd honestly leave off the 'mulch' so it's easier for you to check for water needs and also spot if any voles decide to take up residence in the soils you've loosened for planting. I have curly ligustrum in a very shady spot against the house and shaded from morning sun by a broad vitex tree. The 'curly' has very dark leaves and interesting form, more tall than broad in shade. Might make a nice mix with leucothoe fronted by pieris and tuck in a few daphne odora and perhaps a mahonia or two for interesting yellow flowers and blue berries in the shade.

I have several relatively new plants of the cultivar Illicium floridanum 'Shady Lady,' which is the variegated form of it. It requires lots of water, which may be just because they are not well established yet. But I absolutely love it. They survived the winter without any loss of the evergreen leaves. I believe that the variegated form grows more slowly than the green form, as would be expected.