Scotland has a beautiful flowering shrub that grows like weeds along their roadsides. I was told it was called a 'pieris'. I believe Scotland is a zone 7. I live in 5b. I was told that the shrub would grow for me as long as it was sheltered from the winds. We purchased and planted a shrub three years ago. Technically it is still alive, gets leaves each spring and sort of flowers but it has not grown at all. Can anyone tell me exactly how to look after this plant? ~ Thanks.
The soil is very sandy in this area, but compost and peat moss was dug into a large area around the planting site. It gets sunlight from morning until mid afternoon. Until recently it was planted between two dogwood shrubs - about 6' from either one. This, I thought would protect it from any winds. Now that we have lost the dogwoods I thought I'd have to move the shrub. What are your suggestions?
I wouldn't touch it unless it starts to look bad. Moving things around is very stressful for them and pieris doesn't need a lot of wind protection being so compact. However, 'digging in' amendments doesn't really work for a long time and nature tends to take over fast, so that would be my one concern. If you do have a more naturally loamy but fast draining place for it, you might consider moving it in late fall.
