Cleyera japonica 'Fortunei'

Cleyera japonica belongs to the tea family, the Theaceae, alongside camellia and tea themselves, and shares the family's glossy, leathery, deep green leaves. In the plant's native Japan the species carries a sacred weight few garden shrubs can claim: this is the sakaki, written with a character that fuses the signs for tree and for god, and the branches are cut for tamagushi, the leafy wands offered at Shinto shrines for blessing and purification. Small, sweetly scented cream flowers open in early summer, followed by berries that ripen from red to black.

'Fortunei' is the old variegated form, long cultivated in Japan and known only in this dress, the narrow leaves edged in a clean creamy white that lifts the whole shrub in shade. Grow in well-drained, fertile soil with ample moisture, in sun or semi-shade. One word of caution repays repeating: this is a true Cleyera, not the unrelated Asian shrub Ternstroemia gymnanthera that nurseries so often sell under the Cleyera name.

Use 'Fortunei' as a refined evergreen for a shaded or part-shaded border, a woodland edge, or a courtyard where the variegated foliage and quiet red-to-black berries carry the year. The slow, upright habit suits an informal screen or a specimen near a path where the leaf edges can be read at close range. Pair with darker broadleaf evergreens and shade companions that throw the cream margins forward.

Photos courtesy of OnlinePlantGuide.com and John Grimshaw.