It will spread a bit but this new shrub should grow four to five feet and will take full sun or partial shade. I just bought one myself last month - they are a new plant so I don't have much experience growing one. As for most shrubs you should dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball, loosen the soil in the planting hole and plant at the same depth it was growing at before. Water after you plant it and keep the soil moist the first summer. By next year it should be able to survive on rainfall alone. Good luck and keep me posted on how it does - I'll be taking notes on how mine is growing as well, Keep growing, Marianne Binetti