Aucubas are the great survivors of deep, dry shade, the place in every garden where nothing looks well. Broad leathery leaves hold a hard polish year round, and the gold-splashed forms throw light into corners that get none. The Victorians were mad for the variegated Japanese laurel and grew the plants in sooty London courtyards where little else would live, which tells you most of what you need to know about their tolerance.

A useful piece of the biology: aucubas are dioecious, male and female flowers on separate plants, so the big red winter berries follow only where a male grows within range of a female. 'Rozannie' sidesteps the arrangement and fruits unaided, and is the compact green form worth starting with. Aucuba chinensis and the northern Aucuba japonica var. borealis push hardiness further than most gardeners expect from a plant that looks so tropical. Give them shade and drainage, and keep them out of afternoon sun, which scorches the leaves.