Pieris floribunda ‘Forest Flame’

All the Pierises create a shapely, layered, lumpy-bumpy profile in time. It might take 15 years in some cases but it’s definitely worth the wait. Apart from this wonderful shape, you have prolific quantities of white hanging bell shaped flowers, gorgeous new red growth and beautiful stringy bark on older plants. Some of the shapely little Pieris trees found in National Trust gardens planted by Victorians, are worth the entrance fee too.

They like good organic acid soil and a bit of shade and they’re slow growing – 5ft after 10 years maybe. If you see Pieris that looks more like a small tree in a National Trust garden, remember it was probably planted in 1860.

We have also started experimenting with Pieris Niwaki on the nursery using very old ones and we’ve had some beautiful results.

Propagated by cuttings.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.

As with all woody plants, plant high, exposing as much of the taper at the base of the trunk as possible. Allowing soil to accumulate round the base of a tree can be fatal. Keep very well watered when first planted.

Hardiness level Green

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IF IT HAS A GREEN TRAFFIC LIGHT

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Hardy anywhere in Britain below approximately 1000ft (300m)

This is only meant as a guide. Please remember we're always on hand to give advice about plants and their frost hardiness.

Please remember that these coloured labels are only a rough guide.

General Point about Plant Hardiness: The commonly held belief that it's better to 'plant small' is perfectly true with herbaceous plants, but not necessarily true with woody plants. They need some 'wood' on them to survive severe cold - so plants of marginal hardiness in very cold areas should really be planted LARGER, rather than smaller, wherever possible.