There are a staggering number of Pieris japonica cultivars and hybrids available with size and color for every taste. The varieties below are Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit winners, indicating excellence for ordinary use in suitable conditions, or are noted for their performance in New York area conditions.
Named for its young leaves which emerge deep red, becoming dark green. A smaller plant, up to about 3 feet tall, with dark red buds opening to white flowers with pink sepals. Early flowering and considered an ideal choice for a container.
One of the most common miniature forms, under two feet tall, with leaves and flowers similarly tiny. Red buds open to cream-white flowers on pink stems.
A hardy, Connecticut bred plant, selected for its attractive flowers: dark red buds opening to profuse cream-white flowers. A dense shrub up to 7 feet tall.
A dwarf cultivar, growing slowly up to about 30" tall and wide in a low mound. Leaves emerge red, turning dark green with late-blooming, dense chains of long-lasting white flowers. Known for cold-hardiness and late appearance of flowers.
A choice and popular form with strong but compact growth. Deep red buds open to pale pink flowers eventually becoming white. Attractive bronze foliage in winter. Reaches up to 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide at maturity.
A unique cultivar with variegated leaves, bordered in white following red early display. An upright plant, up to 5 feet tall but less than 3 feet wide. Cream flowers.
A very popular, medium-sized cultivar with blaze-colored new leaves that make an outstanding display. Dense mid-spring flowers in creamy white on a tall plant, up to 10 feet, but slow growing and more typically 4 feet tall and wide after ten years.
Selected for its heat tolerance at the warm edges of the plant's range, this cultivar can survive in USDA zone 8. Up to 4 feet tall and slightly narrower. Bronze new leaves and white flowers.
A dwarf plant up to 2 feet tall and spreading out to 3 feet wide. Long-lasting and late-blooming white flowers follow pink winter buds. New leaves are bronze to pink.
Compact plant up to 4 feet tall with large, pure white flowers.
Particularly stunning, deep red new leaf growth followed by long lasting white flowers. Grows to a rounded 5 feet tall and wide.
Grows to 4 feet tall and wide with bronze early leaves and white flowers.
Bred on Long Island, this plant is about 3 feet tall and wide after 6 years but eventually reaches up to 6 feet. Long-lasting and profuse white flowers with fragrance.
Up to 8 feet. A very popular choice for the dense floral display of pink flowers following maroon-red buds.
Grows slowly to 5 feet tall and wide, producing leaves with a wide band of white variegation, the source of its great popularity. White flowers are less showy and profuse than many. More sun sensitive than most cultivars.
Note: * This plant is part of NYBG's Living Collection. Use our Plant Tracker to locate it growing in the Garden and see for yourself before you decide to buy.
Dirr's Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs
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