kinda outgrew the reason you planted it there, i presume.. lol ...

im guessing.. the small babe was planted to hide the a/c unit ... and vastly outgrew that job.. eh??? .. am i right ... lol

is that the same plant literally sprouting on the foundation???

id probably plan on removing it .. in the next few years.. but in the mean time.. i might plant something 3 or 4 feet away from the a/c .. so that can get going on getting established... and then just cut this thing to the ground.. and use stump killer on it ... nothing should be planted that close to the a/c... so why bother digging it out ... just let it rot in situ ...

ken

It does flower but the tight clipping has probably prevented it.

And like a great many broadleaved evergreen shrubs, it can be pruned back hard in late winter if it has outgrown its current position.. Regrowth is slow so could take a number of years before you would have to address this issue again.

but the issue is free air flow for maximum a/c cooling capacity ... and if you cut it back.. and it starts growing vigorously at a/c height ... then you are blocking said air flow .... amd with the huge mature root mass ... its going to grow back with some vigor.. no matter how slow that may be ....

and im not sure that beast is worth trying to move.. maybe because i am just lazy ... work smart.. not hard ... 50 bucks for a new plant is a lot cheaper than 3 days of digging and hauling an otherwise ugly bush ... lol ...not to mention the 5 foot hole you will end up with the a/c teetering on the edge .... so i would cut it to the ground .. one day of hard work.. and treat it with a stump killer ....

ken

ps: you know.. its never really the cutting down that is all that hard .. it getting rid of all the refuse .....

My Cleyera 'LeAnn' (correctly, Ternstroemia gymnanthera 'Contherann') looks like this, though I cannot be sure it's the same cultivar. It's a very picky bloomer for me (I've never pruned mine), weather conditions have to be just right in May and June...hot and wet. If a dry spell sets in, the flowers will not open, even if the buds had been swelling. If it does bloom, the flowers have an almost fake seeming tropical shampoo smell. That's the best way I can describe it.