When I planted it, the tag said shrub.

What I have now is a tree.

The Pittosporum tobira 'Tall and Tough' in my backyard is close to 12 feet tall. It's planted in a raised bed, so from the seating area below it reads even taller—it's the canopy of that entire space. And when it blooms in spring, the fragrance is enough to practically drive me out of the yard.

I still love it. But it's a lot.

None of that was planned. I planted a shrub and kept making the same decision—season after season—to keep it. That's the story of most of the plants in this new video: shrubs that became trees not because that was my master plan, but because I kept seeing what they could be and working toward it..