Hello Butterfly4u! You won't believe what I did. I pulled them all out of the ground and put some U-Posts in the ground (with cement "shhh" don't tell) and put up a double layer of reed fence! I then proceeded to plant them on the other side of the house to block the view of the trailers over there. They were looking flimsy so I whacked them all the way to the ground back in January or February. I can't remember which. I thought they would die since I put them through hell. I left them alone and they are looking really nice now. They are about 3 feet tall I think. I have not bothered them one bit. I put mulch down around them to keep the lawnmower guy and his weedwhacker henchman away. It's been raining off and on nicely so I have not had to water them at all. My husband got deathly ill at the end of April and we almost lost him. He spent 34 days in the hospital due to kidney issues from enlarged prostate. He also had abdominal surgery on top of that due to adhesions. We have been through hell and high water but things are just now starting to get back to normalcy. He stills needs to gain his weight back and get back into shape but that will happen slowly but surely. If I remember I would like to post the pictures of the reed fence I put up and the Wax Myrtles I replanted soon if you are interested. Due to my husband being in the hospital I have not been able to any gardening whatsoever!!! I am going to do my best to get some fall or winter vegetables going. Halime

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.

"Logan, what may be invasive in your area might not be in another. You should always consider that when giving advice." Parts of texas (from what I have seen on the forums) have a somewhat similar climate, and I have noticed that privet (aka ligustrum sinense) is invasive there (as well as here). That is why I say ligustrum japonicum might behave similarly (as in the way it does here).

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.