I should add that these lovely calacanthus shrubs were grown on the street across from the original sales office in my former community. They appeared to receive absolutely no care. No water, no fertilizer. They did have the formation of shrubs that had suckered. I wonder, given the lack of care, whether NOT watering them results in a stronger aroma. Some shrubs can survive no matter what, but care helps. I had a bunch of lilacs, and every July I would cut off all the spent flowers (really interesting when they got to be 12 feet tall). If you do this they flower to the ground! In the picture, they had been in for ten years. After two years away I passed the house and the bottom foot and a half was woody.
So it depends on what you want, and what crazy things you are willing to do, but growing to the ground meant dozens of extra flowers, and so more scent!
