Description
- Pieris japonica is an evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit. Its dark green leathery leaves are ovate with shallowly serrulate margins, up to 9cm long and 2cm broad.
- In spring the new leaves appear in whorls at the end of each shoot and are reddish in colour. Its white fragrant flowers are bell shaped, up to 1cm long, arranged in racemes or panicles which are up yo 15cm long. Its fruit is a loculicidal capsules.
- Pieris japonica, commonly known as Japanes Pieris, is native to east China, Taiwan and Japan.
- In its native habitat it grows in thickets on mountain slopes.
- Proper pruning and training is reuqired when young to develop a well shaped tree since it often can develop multiple trunks. Good for bonsai cultivation.
Preferring moist, acidic, well-drained soil, it works well in a border, as a specimen, or for informal screening and hedging. Toward the margins of its hardiness range it requires protection from harsh conditions such as wind, drought, and severe heat or cold.
