Hi Lisa. I'm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and although it is hot and humid here in the summer I think it's a little less torrid than it is down there. Last fall I planted two southern bayberry (Myrica caroliniensis) because they're native here and I knew they'd stand up to the humid heat. Mine are still young but are growing gangbusters. Those that I see growing wild by the side of the road can get to be a good 10'-12' tall and perhaps half to 2/3 as wide. I can't really comment on foliage drop due to lack of experience, although mine have experienced nearly none. We had a mild winter (only a week or so of 10 degrees; rest of the time in the 30s), over all, and mine came through with flying colors, hanging onto their leaves when other evergreens (like my inkberries and baby loblolly pines) suffered from wind burn. I don't plan to prune mine for height, as I want a privacy screen and a wind/dust break (next door neighbor likes to disk his property, creating clouds of dust). I know that they do well on our sandy soils (you mentioned that they grow well near your island home); do you have the infamous Georgia clay at your 1st home? If your drainage is good I imagine that they'll thrive. I think that they're terrific additions to our hedgerow!

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.

I keep forgetting the internet for plant references. Forest farm has it, but it gets pretty expensive if you need several. It is native to the eastern US, so don't know how well it will adapt to your climate. Al

I disagree with the statement: "...since a native plant, poses no issues with invasive seeding such as both Portuguese and English laurel are prone to do." We planted several Pacific Wax Myrtles in a native garden many years ago and now have wax myrtle seedling popping up every where. So they can become a problem in other peoples flower beds. Both of the evergreen cherries are shade tolerant, the English more so than the Portuguese, so they are problems in wood lots that the wax myrtle wouldn't be. I like wax myrtle more so than the two evergreen cherries because it is native and has smaller leaves. But it has its problems. The wood is brittle breaking under heavy snow loads and with Vancouver B.C being at the mouth of the Frazier River with Artic flows coming down that valley, you get lot more snow than on Vancouver Island. The fall/winter of '10/11 caused a lot of damage to our myrtle with leaf kills, even whole stems, and the snow flattened the bushes. That spring we had to go in an remove all the broken and dead branches. Something that doesn't happen with the two cherries. Portuguese Cherry doesn't get as big as the English Cherry. Its leaves are not that much bigger than the myrtle's. I also noticed that it doesn't have any where near the invasive seedlings that the English cherry has. It might also be found at local nurseries more so than myrtle.