Scrawny Sarcococca ?

Glossopguy

Any ideas why my Sarcococca are struggling. They have been in a new build house north boarder for 2 years and are thin, almost leafless and very pale. . They flower well and have fruit, but they are sad little plants.
The Soil pH is 6.8-7.2 … and has been treated for Magnesium deficiency (Epsom Salts)
Sad cases have been dug up and planted in potting compost but are not really recovering

pansyface

There are different types of Sarcococca. You don’t say which yours are. I have both confusa and hookeriana and they grow in ordinary, fairly alkaline garden soil in what passes for full sun in Derbyshire.

I know that the books say plant them in shade or dappled shade, but the only one that I tried growing there was miserable. I suppose shade in Derbyshire is colder and grimmer then shade in London.

Have you put them in John Innes No 3 in a biggish pot? They sucker, so they like a lot of space for their roots to spread out.

Here is the hookeriana, with a cat and a largish squirrel for scale, in a south facing bed after about ten years.