Hardiness zones
Sunset 8-24
USDA 8-11

Landscape Use: Japanese pittosporum is a  common old fashioned plant for mesic landscape design themes that can be used in may ways: multiple trunk small tree, large informal hedge, foundation, mass planting, large border edgings and entryways, medium to high light interior landscapes. Note that many of these uses depend on cultivar. Here's a Japanese pittosporum growing indoors in a large container at the Seoul airport in Seoul, Korea.

Form & Character: Evergreen shrub, rounded to like, formal in appearance

Growth Habit: Slow moderate ranging from 3' to 15' in height, vigor and growth habit is cultivar dependent.

Foliage/texture: Whorled, nearly sessile, spatulate to obovate leaves to 4" long with prominent midvein, margins sometimes revolute; medium texture.

Flowers & fruits: Small lemon yellow, mock orange-scented flowers, in umbellate clusters, mostly axillary followed by multicarpulate fruit with orange to red sticky seeds.

Seasonal color: None, flowers are too small. Fruit seed might be considered as an accent by some.

Temperature: Actually very hardy in Phoenix, except high heat/high irradiance west exposures of summer can cause damage.

Light: In Phoenix, partial shade is best, NO western exposures, northern exposures are difficult (sudden afternoon sun during May to July), eastern exposure is best. Foliar sunscald is a huge problem in Phoenix even with plants located on a north exposure.

Soil: Iron chlorosis frequently occurs in Phoenix due to alkaline soil conditions

Watering: Requires regular applications of water during the summer.

Pruning: Head back slightly or severe renewal pruning, difficult to prune because of whorled branch arrangement

Propagation: Softwood cutting, seed

Disease and pests: Aphids, scale, occasional mites during Summer

Additional comments: P. tobira 'Wheelers Dwarf' is an all green, dwarf cultivar, dome-like to 3' with slightly greater spread. 'Creme de Mint' is a very dwarf variegated cultivar with a strongly stunted, mounded appearance. It is great for small spaces with an eastern exposure. It can become rangy if in dense shade. P. tobira `Variegata' is a variegated form with slightly less vigor, gray green leaves are marginal variegation. Great serviceable plant coast to coast across the southern United States.