Plant of the Month - April 2007

Japanese Pieris (Pieris japonica)

If it’s early spring flowers you want then Japanese Pieris is sure to deliver. Its unique urn shaped flowers cover the plant in late march early April and are contrasted nicely by the evergreen foliage.

Japanese Pieris is a sizeable shrub growing up to 12’ high and about half as wide. It has lustrous evergreen foliage. When the new growth emerges it is bronze to red in color, the cultivar ‘mountain fire’ being the best for this characteristic. Pieris japonica flowers early in the spring and its small urn shaped flowers hang in mass on large panicles and sit beautifully on top of the evergreen foliage.

Pieris japonica is in the same family as Rhododendron and has many of the same growing characteristics. It prefers a slightly acidic, well drained soil, in full sun to partial shade. Pruning should take place after flowering.