Pieris Japonica seed

LATIN NAME: Pieris japonica

COMMON NAME: Japanese Pieris

The Japanese pieris is the white urn of the woodland, and the dense, drooping clusters of the small, urn-shaped flowers open through the early spring. The rounded, evergreen shrub carries the glossy, lance-shaped leaves with the bronze or red new growth and the dense, drooping panicles of the small, white, urn-shaped flowers through the early spring, one of the fine, delicate sights of the cool garden. The whole shrub is for the eyes only, not for eating or touching without the gloves, and it is a fine, bold presence of the acid garden. It is a shrub of the open, sunny to partly shaded, deep, moist, acid, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Japanese pieris is a fine subject of the plant science, and the white urns keep showing up in the work on the heath family. The chemistry of the leaves, which carry the potent compounds of the heath family, has been studied at length, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the ericaceous shrubs, the acid-soil evergreens and the members of the heath family. The glossy, lance-shaped leaves and the rounded, neat habit have also made it a fine garden shrub, and the Japanese pieris is a regular subject of the work on the white urns of the cool world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The Japanese pieris is a fine, bold shrub of the woodland garden and the acid border. The dense, drooping panicles of the small, white, urn-shaped flowers open through the early spring, one of the fine, delicate sights of the cool garden, drawing the bees of the season. The whole shrub is for the eyes only, not for eating or touching without the gloves, so it is grown for the white urns rather than for the table. The glossy leaves hold the deep, green structure through the year, with the bronze and red new growth of the spring, and it is one of the fine choices for the acid border, the woodland garden and the specimen shrub. It has been written up in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the white urns and the red new growth, and it is a fine, long-lived shrub of the open, sunny to partly shaded, deep, moist, acid, well-drained garden.

Mulch the base with the pine needles and the leaf mould, for the shrub likes the cool, acid soil.

To grow the Japanese pieris from seed, sow the small, brown seeds over the surface of a tray of sterile seed compost, without covering them, keep the tray in a cool, bright spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings come up in their own good time and grow on slowly. With the sun or the light shade and the deep, moist, acid, well-drained ground, the white urns will open in the years ahead.

Pieris ‘Little Heath’ is a dwarf, compact, evergreen shrub with variegated foliage of mid to dark green edged with a light, creamy margin. In early spring, the plant produces soft white, bell-shaped flowers. After flowering, the new leaf growth develops a pink tinge to bring further seasonal colour. This Pieris prefers acidic, fertile and moist, well-drained soil and a sunny or partly shaded, sheltered position in which to thrive. It is suitable for beds and borders though will grow equally well in a container, bringing colour and seasonal interest to garden or patio.