Not sure how well it will do if you want to keep it really small - its actually a shrub, fully hardy, that is often used for relatively low (up to 5 feet) hedging. Bit of a messy grower if not clipped over regularly.

Not really a rock garden shrub. It does want to grow to the size stated. We have to cut our hedge of it twice a year to keep it down to 3 feet,

Wouldn't recommend in an alpine garden, even if you can keep pruned the roots will continue to grow and that could lead to problems

Thank you Bamboo, Owdboggy and Moon Grower. I now
know to plant it further back to give it space to grow the way it wants to.

Diane if you want a low growing plant that has gold leaves try golden marjoram. It does die back quite lot in winter but usually retails a central clump of gold leaves.It also has lilac flowers attractive to bees and hoverflies. If you want a bit let me know. (It does spread into a wide clump but its easy to chop pieces off.) and you can use it as a culinary herb too. If you want a larger plant Euonymus fortunii Emerald'n Gold is useful shrub. It can grow slowly to several feet across if left untrimmed but is very amenable to pruning.

Hi, I have one it's been in many years north facing but has grown huge and as bamboo says grows messy so is high maintenance, so I would place carefully if you plant in garden, however the birds do nest in it, but I may get rid of mine this year ! :-)