Deer Resistant Shade, Evergreen, Flowering Shrub: Spring Blooming Pieris Varieties From the Small to the Large
In gardening, size matters. It is especially important when planting trees and shrubs, because they are not as easy to dig up and move around once they’ve grown to their mature size. It may be cute in its pot now, but how big will it be in ten years? At Victoria Gardens we love the early spring bloom Pieris shrubs because they have it all. Flowers? Check. Evergreen? Check. Deer resistant? Check! And shade loving? Yes, that too.
Pieris (common name: Japanese Andromedea) has lustrous, delicate evergreen foliage, but when in full bloom you can barely see the foliage beneath the trusses of downward-facing bell-shaped blooms. Pieris is one of the easiest evergreen shrubs to grow as long as it isn’t too wet or too dry. It is highly disease resistant, and besides a treatment of Holly-tone fertilizer in May, the plant is very low maintenance.
Pieris 'Pygmaea': 3- 4’ tall by 3- 4’ wide. This is a very cool Pieris with very fine, feathery leaves. Pinkish buds open pure white in spring.
Pieris 'Spring snow': 4’ tall by 3’ wide. Pink buds open to bright white flowers.
Pieris japonica 'Purity': 4’ tall by 4’ wide. Light green foliage with white flowers.
Pieris japonica ‘White Cascade‘: 4- 5’ tall by 4-5’ wide. Unlike most other Pieris, it will quickly drop any browned damaged flowers allowing fresh new blooms to steal the show. It is a slow grower, generally only putting on about 4 inches of growth a year.
Pieris 'Dorothy Wyckoff': 5’ tall by 5’ wide. Produces reddish-purple buds, which open as soft-pink blooms, and then mature to white bell-shaped flowers.
Pieris japonica 'Variegata': 5’ tall by 5’ wide. This one is best known for the attractive leaves that are green with white margins. Cascading chains of flower clusters are white.
Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire': 6’ tall by 4’ wide. Brilliant red new foliage turns dark green with maturity, displaying colors ranging from pink, peach, and a spectrum in between. Drooping clusters of showy white spring flowers.
Pieris ‘Valley Valentine‘: 6- 7’ tall by 4- 5’ wide. This shrub is slightly upright and rounded, has brilliant, saturated pink bundles of downward facing blooms, and has the sweetest springtime fragrance.
Tall and thin proportions, just like Vivian Leigh, Pieris 'Scarlet O'Hara': 8 –10’ tall and 4 –5’ wide. Pendulous clusters of white flowers in April. Prominent flower buds all winter. Reddish bronze new growth turns green at maturity.
The hardiest of all Pieris, Karenoma grows quickly to 10' x 6'. Offers upright panicles of white flowers and handsome evergreen foliage year-round.
Pieris 'Summer Hill': 9-12’ tall by 6-9’ wide. Thick, lustrous leaves emerge brick red - excellent branching, fast grower. Features dainty chains of white bell-shaped flowers hanging below the branches in early spring.
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