Don't pay a lot for it--it's a very fast grower. Two springs ago I bought an 8 inch tall one from Bluestone. Last summer (its second season) it was 10 feet tall. I have had to shape it some, staking and pulling a couple of unruly stems more upright, and this spring I'll trim off some low side branches. But it's a great small tree--handsome, quite deer resistant, fragrant bloom followed by the famous long show of red calyxes and interesting peeling bark. Tough, pest resistant and grows anywhere.

Thanks, Lacey! You just saved me fifty bucks. I am so glad I put this question on.

Lazy S's has them for $7.99 (I think that's the right price).

Mine do not grow as fast as laceyvail. I have them about 6 years. One was a small start and is only 8 feet but is in shade (not good for this plant). Another is about 15 feet from 5' or less. I have removed branches on both here and there.

It can be either a shrub or a small tree - depends on how you prune it. Very satisfactory to have something flower in late summer - always an awkward time.

Mine has about doubled in two years. I got it at a plant sale, was about 4ft. Now it has tall center shoots at about 9ft, about 6ft wide with nice arching sides. It came from a nice nursery, had been pruned well before I got it, so haven't trimmed it yet. I expect it to get fair size, though I may trim it back some if it gets near the 20ft some say is possible.

It seems to be happy, looks nice in full sun until mid-day. I like the peeling bark in winter, as I walk by a couple times every day. I also like the shiny green leaves and bright white flowers. I thought the late, red calyx would be more red, one of the reasons I bought it. They are pretty, yet are not extremely bright red, as I somehow expected. Best appreciated up close. I had not seen this bush anywhere in person before purchase, just heard good things about it.

Those of you who have had it for several years - do you or your neighbors get any seedlings, either courtesy of the birds or from dropped seeds?

Mine is more than 10-15 years old, reached a size of 15-20 ft fairly quickly and maintain the size. Does not self-sow at all. I consider it highly ornamental especially the branch structure and bark in winter.

I have mine for over 10 years & it also has not self-sown.

I have a couple of these, but they're young yet, so no experience with seeds or other methods of propagation; I googled heptacodium +propagation, and found this:

Propagation is by seed and softwood cuttings. Seed requires both cold treatment and scarification. Stem cuttings taken in spring and summer root under mist.

That would explain the lack of volunteers; the rapic growth makes it look like it would root easily but I guess, if mist is required, that might not be especially easy to do.

Glad to read about this. I think I'll add it to my Bluestone order ($8.95).

I've had a plant three years, during which it's gone from about 5 to 10 feet in height with a 5 foot spread. No great shakes as an ornamental yet, but I'm giving it more time. It had a bit of dieback thanks to our warm March and severe April freeze this past spring, but recovered nicely. I think I paid less than $10 for it at an area woody plant nursery.

No seedlings have appeared.

Nice short article about it, from 2002, in the NY Times.

I was googling it because I'm planning to transplant a couple of them out of a shady spot into more sun, and I need to know both when that should be done and how far they need to be from my septic system. Not a whole lot of info on their root system on line, and even Dirr is pretty tight lipped about them.

The NCSU 'fact sheet' says they'll only get to 8-10' wide, so I'd imaging they could be placed fairly near (about 12' from) a septic tank without too much worry ... I wonder if anyone has seen them get wider than this?

Here is a link that might be useful: Anne Raver on Heptacodium