They are certainly a beautiful tree Andrew. My two are close to the house, so I need to prune them every year. Pruning has to wait until the local doves finish with breeding-there are always 2-3 nests in the trees every spring. I guess the thick foliage provides protection from predators, namely Currawongs.
I also have a Japonica which I planted about 5 years ago, and it is doing nicely now, with lots of buds forming .
