Ornamental · Buxaceae
Japanese Pachysandra
Pachysandra terminalis
Given deep shade and rich, moist soil, pachysandra spreads a low mat of dark, lacquered evergreen leaves that lasts for years.
Full shade
Every 7–14 days
USDA 4–9
6–12 in · 15–30 cm
Overview
Up close, Japanese pachysandra is all glossy, dark green leaves, thick and leathery, clustered in whorls at the tips of short upright stems. It is an evergreen groundcover in the boxwood family, native to Japan and China, where the same fleshy shoots crowd the forest floor. Run a hand over a patch and the leaves feel firm and slightly waxy, their surfaces catching what little light reaches the shade.
The plant keeps a low, even profile. Each leafy stem rises just 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) and holds its lacquered leaves right through winter, so the mat never thins to bare ground once it closes over. In early spring, short spikes of small white flowers push up above the foliage, a pale contrast to the deep green, though they are a brief, modest bloom against the year-round leaves.
What the plant wants shows plainly in its foliage. Shade and moving air keep the leaves dark and mirror-bright, while sun bleaches that green to a tired yellow. Where the leaves stay glossy and the air runs freely through the stems, the plant looks its best, but in crowded, damp growth the surfaces dull and Volutella blight settles into the tissue.
Care
The short version: part to full shade, in rich, moist, well-drained soil on the acidic side, is what keeps the leaves dark and glossy. Water through dry spells, keep the stems from crowding into still, damp growth, and clear fallen debris to hold blight off the foliage.
Light
Pachysandra is a true shade plant, and its leaves stay darkest and glossiest in part to full shade. Dappled light under trees or the shaded side of a building keeps that deep green, while full sun bleaches the surfaces pale and scorches the edges brown.
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist, watering roughly every 7 to 14 days when rain is short, though an established mat holds up in dry shade. Wet the base by drip rather than the leaves, since foliage left damp lets Volutella blight settle into the tissue.
Soil
It roots into rich, moist, well-drained soil on the slightly acidic side, ideally a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Loam or clay both hold it as long as the ground drains, because soggy soil softens and blackens the roots.
Temperature
This is a cold-hardy plant, its leathery leaves holding from about -29°F to 95°F (-34°C to 35°C). The foliage stays evergreen through hard winters in the ground, though a drying winter wind can scorch and brown any exposed leaves.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor air suits the foliage, so there is no target number. Air moving through the stems matters more than moisture around them, since crowded, still growth is where leaf blight dulls and spots the leaves.
Feeding
Pachysandra seldom needs feeding. A light balanced fertilizer in spring keeps the leaves green, while a heavier hand only forces soft, crowded shoots that disease slips into.
Pruning
Upkeep is light. Thin or mow crowded growth to let air pass between the stems, pull any spotted or scorched leaves, and rake off fallen foliage so spores have no dead tissue to overwinter in.
Repotting
It is a groundcover, not a potted plant, so it is rarely containerized or repotted. Set in the ground it stays put and creeps outward on fine runners, throwing up new leafy stems as it goes.
Size & spacing
Each leafy stem stays low at 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) tall, and a plant spreads its glossy foliage 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm) across. Set new divisions 6 to 12 inches apart and the leaves close the gaps over a few seasons.
When to plant
Pachysandra is a hardy perennial whose glossy leaves fill in slowly. Set it out in spring or early fall while the soil is cool and moist, watch the short white flower spikes rise over the foliage in early spring, and give the mat about three years to close into an unbroken sheet of green.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: spring or early fall
- Harvest: early to mid spring (April)
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–9
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Almost everything that ails pachysandra registers first in the leaves, in the loss of their deep green, in spots and blotches, or in the dulling of that waxy shine. Reading those surface changes early lets you act before a patch of foliage thins and dies out. Match the look of the leaves and stems below to what the plant shows.
Target-ringed blotches, blackened stems, and bare patches
Tan blotches spread across the leaves in faint concentric rings, like a target pressed into the tissue, while the stems darken from brown to a dead black and whole patches thin to nothing. This is Volutella leaf and stem blight, the plant's worst affliction, and in wet weather it raises salmon-pink cushions of spores on the dead tissue. Cut the marked leaves and blackened stems out when they are dry, open the crowded growth to the air, hold scale down, and wet the roots rather than the leaves.
Fix:
- Cut out and dispose of infected leaves and stems when dry
- Thin crowded plantings to improve air circulation
- Control scale insects
- Avoid overhead watering; use drip irrigation
- Apply fungicide during wet weather if severe
Wilting stems gone soft and black at the base
The upright stems droop and lose their firmness, and the roots and stem bases turn soft, dark, and mushy to the touch. This is root and stem rot, and it takes hold where the soil stays waterlogged, hollowing out the lowest, wettest patches of a bed. Open the drainage, water less, and lift out the collapsed, blackened plants.
Fix:
- Improve drainage
- Reduce watering and avoid waterlogged sites
- Remove and discard affected plants
Dull, speckled leaves studded with waxy bumps
The glossy surface turns flat and finely speckled, and small waxy crusts, white to brown, crowd along the stems and the undersides of the leaves. Those crusts are euonymus scale, while the fine stippling and thin webbing come from spider mites. Prune out the most encrusted stems, coat the scale with horticultural oil, and keep after them, because scale opens the plant to Volutella blight.
Fix:
- Prune out heavily infested stems
- Apply horticultural oil for scale
- Manage mites with appropriate miticide or oil
Glossy leaves fading pale or crisping brown
The deep, lacquered green drains toward a washed-out yellow, and the leaf edges dry, curl, and turn brittle brown. Because pachysandra is a shade plant, too much sun drives that bleaching, and drying wind or winter cold burns the tips the same way. Return the plant to part or full shade over moist, rich soil and the glossy dark green fills back in.
Fix:
- Transplant to part or full shade
- Provide a moist, organically rich site
- Water during drought and avoid hot, exposed locations
Toxicity
Pachysandra is a safe choice around pets, livestock, and children. The firm, glossy leaves are not on the ASPCA toxic list, and while a mouthful might leave a curious cat or dog briefly queasy, nothing serious follows. It plants freely in a yard shared by animals and children.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Cats are safe around pachysandra. A cat that bites into a firm, glossy leaf might drool a little or feel briefly queasy, and nothing worse follows.
Dogs None
Dogs are safe near it. The thick, leathery leaves are absent from the ASPCA toxic list, and a chewed mouthful causes only a short bout of queasiness.
Horses None
Horses come to no harm from this groundcover. It carries no toxin that affects them, and the low, waxy-leaved carpet is one they generally pass by.
Rabbits None
Rabbits are safe beside it. Wild and pet rabbits nibble around the toothed, glossy leaves without ill effect, though they rarely seek them out.
Livestock None
Cattle, goats, and sheep graze nearby safely. In the small amounts they might crop, the firm foliage holds nothing that troubles a grazing animal.
Birds None
Birds are safe with pachysandra. Many slip into the dense, low mat for cover and foraging, untroubled by the leaves or the short stems.
People None
People are safe around this groundcover. The glossy leaves are neither eaten nor poisonous, so a bed of them sits fine where children play.
Discourage pets from chewing the foliage; not listed among ASPCA toxic plants but the alkaloid-containing leaves can irritate.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
United Kingdom
Animal PoisonLine: 01202 509000 (fee applies)
Australia
Animal Poisons Helpline: 1300 869 738
Varieties
A few named selections sit beside the common species, each differing in the color or edging of its leaves. These are the ones worth knowing before you buy.
Green Carpet
A compact, low-growing selection whose leaves are an especially dark, glossy green.
Variegata (Silveredge)
Each leaf carries a thin white margin, and the plant grows slower and less vigorously than the plain green form.
Pachysandra procumbens (Allegheny spurge)
A clumping native whose matte blue-green leaves are mottled with purple and white, spreading far less aggressively than P. terminalis.
How to propagate
Pachysandra is easy to increase from the leafy growth already on the plant, and gardeners nearly always take that route rather than raising it from seed.
DivisionEasy
Spring or early fall · About three years to fill in as a groundcover
Division is the standard way to increase it. In spring or early fall, established clumps or rooted runners are lifted, teased apart, and the pieces set 6 to 12 inches apart, where they take about three years for the glossy foliage to knit into a solid, unbroken mat.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Late spring to summer · Several weeks to root
Firm tip cuttings taken from late spring through summer push out roots in a moist medium within a few weeks. It is a quick way to raise many new leafy shoots from the growth already on the plant.
SeedModerate
Spring · Slow and seldom used
Seed sown in spring will germinate, but it is slow and seldom used. Nearly all plantings come from divisions or cuttings, which reproduce the same glossy leaves and root in far sooner.
Myths
Pachysandra grows well in full sun.
It is a shade groundcover through and through. Under full sun and high wind the leaves lose their deep green, bleaching pale and scorching brown at the edges, and that stress also opens the door to Volutella blight. Grown in part to full shade, the foliage holds the dark, lacquered green it is planted for.