Pieris Japonica starting to bloom.....

Noticed my Pieris starting to bloom this morning....this is one of our favorite shrubs. We planted this one 10 years ago, as a 1 gal plant off the clearance table. It is now 5+ ft tall, and would be taller if I didn;t prune every fall to help keep it in balance for it's space.
This particular shrub has true year round appeal.
Winter:
Hard seed pods which rattle in the wind
Bright green/yellow/red leaves (evergreen)
Spring:
Bright red new growth
Pedulouse white bell shaped flowers in garpe like clusters
Common nick name for this shrub is "Lily of the Vally shrub"
Summer:
Beautuful rich colors all season long
Fall:
Colors contimue to remain bright and vibrant
Flower clusters fade to small green grape like seed pods, which continue to age till they achieve the hard rattle again in Winter.

Links:
http://www.mydeergarden.com/Plant_DB/LISTresults.asp?Genus=Pieris&Species=japonica

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/59720/

That's sickening! My Pieris are all buried under several feet of snow and won't be blooming until late April. I need to move to the northwest!

Off topic Marc, sorry, but I thought of you last week when I went to the Bay Area to visit my parents. Ma and I went to the local nursery (how could I not?) and saw the most incredible hydrangea.....Hydrangea 'Shooting Stars'....I HAVE to have one, I know you would love it too. It's a white lacecap....but the rim flowers have a long flower tube (for lack of a better word) between 2 & 3 inches, the flower on the end is star shaped! I may call my Mom and have her go get me one and hang onto it until I get back there! I should have run to the car and got my camara, dopey me.
Karen

Karen, how sweet of you to think of me while looking at a pretty shrub. I have often thought of putting in some hydrangias....so far only have a 2ft snowball. Not sure where I'd put them though. I'm running out of room :-(

Todd, so sorry to make you sad with the pictures of my blooming Pieris. Never fear my friend, your Spring will come too. Mines a month earlier than usual this year.....I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop and zap all my babies. :-(

Same thing here in CA. February usually has rain, fog and temps in the 35-50 degree range. This last week was sunny and 68 degrees! I fear all the almond orchards here will start to bloom and then get hit with a month of rain....ruining the crop for this year. My Aprium tree has large pink buds, just about to burst....I'll simply cry if I don't get a crop! :~[

I saw bunches of those while in Seattle a few years ago for work. Had to try one when I saw some for sale here. It's more than hardy, but sometimes the blooms get damaged if there's a late frost.

Here's mine on March 20th 2003 when it was blooming well. It's one of the first things in bloom and oddly enough, there are insects buzzing around it that early in the year too. They seem to like it.

Loevely....glad Seattle sent you home with something to remember us by (sort of) :-)

I think the couple times I've been there, it actually wasn't rainy at all! Everyone said I must have come at just the right time. I enjoyed seeing the moss growing everywhere....on everyTHING! That was pretty cool.

It actually doesn't rain here all that much....Portland Oregon gets more rain than we do. It's a big lie we all tell so that others don't move here and clog our freeways. LOL

LOL Rikerbear! Yep we sure doooo get a lot more rain down here in Oregon!

Oh I forgot to mention....the lie doesn't work, the freeways are clogged. :-)

I've actually been to Salem, OR twice when I worked my old job. I don't recall it raining much when I was there either! LOL Guess I just got lucky. One time it was winter when I was there. It did start snowing really good when I started my drive up to Seattle (I had to go there after being in Salem). The snow was beautiful on the evergreens as I got up into WA.

RikerBear:
The actual difference between rainfall in Seattle and Vancouver, WA is 1", and it depends on the year which is higher and which is lower. Further, Ridgefield is 5" less than Seattle as is the western part of Battle Ground. So there!

Well since I didn't say anything about rain fall levels of Seattle as opposed to any place else I'm not sure what the So There! is suppose to mean. LOL
There are many many places that recieve a lot more rain fall than Seattle.....this year I'd be willing to bet Death Valley has had more than we have. :-(

Hi Marc, ours has started the last week or so to bloom, and they have such a strong sweet fragrance, almost too sweet at times, but are so lovely, all year long as you said.

Linda

and heres the flowers, close up

Very pretty Linda.....never thought to grow on in a patio pot. How old is yours?

Thanks Marc

We've had it for a year now, and got it from a nursery, so don't really know how old it is. It stays out all year long, and in the summer I put the tray underneath so theres more water available, but in our wet season I take it out so it can drain freely.

They seem to grow pretty fast around here. We have about 5 in the landscape now. each were purchased as 1 gal plants, and now are all over 5+ ft tall in just a few years.
The one in my pictures would be well over 10 feet by now if I didn;t prune a couple times a year to help keep it in bounds for the patio area.

I had never heard of these plants until about 3 months ago. I noticed a handful of them around my neighborhood this winter. Flowering evergreen shrubs are hard to come by and this one sure looks like a beauty. I snuck out and planted 3 'Mountain Fire' plants just yesterday.

- Brent

You won't be sorry you planted them Brent. What size did you plant? 1 gal or larger?

They were 2 gallon plants for $13/each. They were good sized plants covered with flowers (some buds not open yet) and had nice looking roots.

- Brent

RikerBear..... I spent my lunch period trying to find one of these on ebay and the net..... no luck.... saw one at the Wichita garden show last Saturday and it was love at first site....... I'll keep up the search because they are really pretty and hczone6 and MG99 I'm so envious......

vs71099 good luck on your search. I've seen them used for hedges around here. They really are something, and great colour and scent.

VS71099, I have three very small rooted starts that are entering their 2nd year....still in 4 in pots. If you can't find one in your area I would be happy to trade you one of these.

Thanks RikerBear...... I don't want to take yours if I can find one..... The garden centers are just about to start getting plants in so I'll keep an eye out and if I can't find one I'll see what I can come up with for a trade.... You seem to be pretty well stocked and usually introduce plants to the forum that are new to me.... and might I add usually end up putting on my "WANT LIST"....... so it might be difficult to come up with something ......

Oh no, I'm easy to please really. I am always looking for very common things actually. If you can't find a Pieris please let me know and I'll be happy to get you one of my rooted babies.

Really? Pieris japonica is new to me but seems to be widely available. I just checked Musser Forests and Forest Farm and both list 'Mountain Fire'.

http://www.musserforests.com/results.asp?image1.x=8&image1.y=13&s=pieris
http://www.forestfarm.com/search/search.asp?aPage=1&index=genus&field-keywords=pieris&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

BTW, I just purchased mine at Lowes.

- Brent


This message was edited Mar 9, 2005 12:59 PM

Brent_In_NoVa - I guess I shouldn't have said I can't find one as much as I should have said I'm cheap and want to find one for the lowest possible price ........ I've spent so much on lights, shelves and dirt already I'm having to really watch the budget...... As well as it seems when I do splurge seems like I find it again for a much lower price a few days or weeks later..... must be murphy's law for the garden.....

Thanks for the links.... I'll keep them marked in case.....

Alas, a late night trip to Lowe's to get more dirt - guess what I found - 1 gallon pots for 5.97 of three different varieties...... I bought 5 of them and plan to put a couple in pots like MG99's beautiful photo.....

vs71099, I was at an out of the nursery yesterday, and also found 3 different varieties. I looked at the names, and for life of can't remember the names. There was the "white' one that rikerbear and I posted, also a pink one, and a red one that was almost plum coloured. I think it was Valley Valentine. It was something valentine anyway. I sure struggled about buying the valentine one, but for a variety af reasons, it's still at the nursery.

vs: you'll have a wonderful few plants, and am sure you will enjoy them.

I found a red one as well.... but the tag said it got 5'X5' and the white one stayed around 3'..... I liked yours in the pot so well that I stayed with the little one.... but like you I struggled with not loading up the cart.... I am a zone 5 so I imagine I'll need to overwinter my pot in the garage.....