It's not clear from your post what kind of vitex you're dealing with. If it's a vining type, like the notorious beach vitex, then its tendency to spread indefinitely is part of the characteristics of the plant, and so there's always going to be a certain amount of regular maintenance to keep it away from other plants and other places it's not wanted. If it's one of the more common upright shrub/tree types of vitex, though, then it's a little more complicated. They grow vigorously and flower abundantly on the new growth of the season, so they can (and perhaps should) literally be cut all the way back to a stump every year in March or April, which will help to limit its size. It's good to deadhead them in mid-summer (around now), so that's another opportunity to keep its size limited. And almost any amount of trimming at any other time of year as necessary is unlikely to ever harm the plant, so theoretically you should be able to keep it at any size you want if you're willing to prune enough. But there's no getting around the fact that they're big, robust plants by nature, and for that matter, so is the cryptomeria. So, if they're conflicting now, it's not likely to get a lot better on its own. If you have the opportunity to move the vitex now, and have a spot for it that's very sunny and not too damp where it can be allowed to develop more fully while still being aesthetically pleasing, then you probably should do that. But, if like a lot of us, you have a yard that's a little too small, a little too crowded, and a little too shady, then you might have to make-do with it where it is. Either way, they're wonderful, beautiful plants, and very forgiving of just about any treatment.

A male kiwi vine growing on privacy screen is bigger than expected. We liked it, white and pink splotches, pretty small insignificant flowers. The screen fell and we put a new screen and found the vine was big and rooted in several places. We started cutting, there was so much of it. Few years back I thought a Virginia creeper would be nice, another time I planted hops. I liked it too. Except all these vines were too big and too vigorous. They are all gone now. I think of them as plant thugs.

Ken, thanks. This thing is one happy camper for a plant I do nothing for. lol It sat in my basement butt naked of leaves all winter until I stuck it back outside in spring. That is how I store it. It takes no room in my growing areas, thank God. Rekha, thanks. At night I bring it inside and leave it in the house so that the whole house smells nice.

So I almost killed my Orange tree a few weeks ago due to me not being able to water it and a growth light being on 24/7 for about 3 weeks (amazon plug malfunctioned). The tree dropped all of its leaves and I thought it was almost dead. I still watered it and left it for dead. I decided since it had no leaves to turn on the Christmas lights on it and within a few days as a joke and I noticed the thing started to put flowers (yes in the middle of winter.) So I was like ok...then started to cut the little oranges that would grow into oranges (to re-route energy to green growth) thinking if it was putting flowers then for sure it wasn’t dead. I decided to trim the thing agressively thinking worst thing it can happen is the tree die. Within a week the tree was full of new green growth shooting leaves and branches (don’t know how you call them) everywhere. Do you think the christmas lights have something to do with it? They are the cheap led kind - blue, green, red - or am I just crazy? Thing is the tree is growing like mad even way more than it has ever grown on summer even full sun. The growth light I use it only for winter survival practically since its small (Spider Farmer 1000) and I only use it for around 5 hours at night so it can’t be the one making the tree grow. I know it may sound like exageration but the whole house smell like perfume now from all the flowers it keeps putting everyday.