I am, by no means, an expert on this shrub, but I have a great number of them on my property, all having grown in wild. They tend to grow on the edges of woodland, which says to me that they need some sun. I see them in my neighborhood in full sun, and in our area, that's ALOT of sun. The most common way of pruning and shaping them here is to arborize them: choose a few large stems that are growing in pleasing angles, and then remove all the branches on them from the ground up to the desired height. Remove all the other stems by cutting them to the ground. The ones around our area that get regular shearing look unpleasantly wild and very woolly (in my opinion). I would give the plant time to form its own natural crown. It won't take long. I assume you know that they sucker quite alot, which is the only reason I leave them in wild situations. They are very attractive shrubs otherwise.

Gegaron, I know that feeling of wanting a very specific plant. I looked at Las Pilitas, http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/myrica-californica, they have quite a few listed in production, you might contact them and see if there are any available to ship yet. I could have sworn I saw some gallon size containers at the Cambria Nursery when I was looking at their natives today, you might give them a call and see if they'll ship. http://www.cambrianursery.com/ Good luck!

WOW - your wax myrtles look great!! I’ve sprayed my 10 with a 3 in 1 made by Fertilome which was recommended by the garden center and now I’ll keep an eye on them and see what happens. I bought plants in 3 gallon containers that were about 30 inches tall at the time of planting and they have grown about a foot so far this year. i did do a little pruning earlier in the year to get them to flush out more. We have a seldom used neighborhood park adjacent to our lot and I wanted some kind of natural barrier between it and our backyard just in case it gets more use in the future. I had had some experience with wax myrtles as a privacy hedge at a home in South Carolina so thought they would be the ticket here. The difference there was that they were already established and I never had to be concerned with watering or pests. It‘s been so dry here in Jacksonville that I have had to hand water them a couple of times every week. The irrigation system we inherited is set up for grass, not newly planted shrubbery but that has given me the oppoortunity to closely inspect the plants with each watering, not only the wax myrtles but also the azaleas and camillias that I have planted since we bought this place. Thanks for getting back to me. I’s good to hear that your plants are doing so well and are providing the needed privacy. Take care.

You didn't say how high your hedge needs to be. Are deer a problem? How's the drainage? No for Prunus caroliniana. It is a tree and can get damaged in winter. But there may be other Prunus such as Skip laurel, provided they get enough moisture. It can get 8 to 15 feet. Prunus laurocerasus 'Otto Luyken' works for many years. Doesn't get much over 4 or 5 feet. But can eventually get white scale and die out. Euonymus is great provided your area is fenced from deer. Golden euonymus, Silver King euonymus, etc. Wax myrtle may work, but can defoliate in really cold winters. Also, snow loads can break them up, which is discouraging, but deer don't like them. You might consider Viburnum pragense. It's a bit course, but with shaping looks fairly good. Takes regular maintenance. Stays evergreen. It's tough and deer don't care for it. Leaves droop in coldest weather. Then there are all the hollies, such as I cornuta 'Burford', 'Needlepoint', 'Carissa', I. cornuta Rotundifolia, Ilex crenata and all it's cultivars, the Blue hollies and all their cultivars.