Japanese Spurge
Pachysandra terminalis
A classic evergreen groundcover that carpets dry or moist shade under trees, helps hold slopes and banks, and deer leave it alone. It needs shade, since sun bleaches the leaves. It spreads aggressively and is hard to remove, and Delaware lists it as invasive.
- Mature size
- 10 in × 1.5 ft
- 0.3 × 0.4 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Part sun to full shade
- Water
- Dry to moist
- Blooms
- Apr
Japanese Spurge at its mature size
A mature Japanese Spurge grows 6 to 12 inches tall and 12 to 18 inches wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.
Through the year
What Japanese Spurge looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Year-round
Low carpet of glossy dark green toothed leaves.
Photos
Growing Japanese Spurge
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Foundation planting, groundcover, shade garden, drought tolerant, slopes, and deer resistant
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Japan and China
- State lists
Prohibited in Delaware, so it can’t be sold there. Delaware Invasive Plant List
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Japanese Spurge, that’s about 1.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Japanese Spurge in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other pachysandras
Japanese Spurge
Pachysandra (Native)All drawn to the same scale.