Leggy Pieris Japonica

7 years ago

Hello All. We moved into a new house in late Decemeber, so this is our first season getting to know our yard and garden. We've got an old (likely 40 year old) pieris japonica in the front yard that looks like it's never been pruned. It's got a lot of twisty, thick old growth toward the center of the plant and looks, frankly, a hot mess. Can I hard-prune this? Would it force some new growth on the bald bits if I did? I'd like to save it if possible, especially since it's one of the few plants the deer seem to be leaving alone. I've got a boxwood right next to it that is in a similar state, but since I don't much care if that lives or dies, I'm just going to prune the bejeesus out of it and see what happens.

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

7 years ago

Yes, the pieris can be hard pruned. But if you think it looks like a hot mess now, it will look like an even hotter mess after.......untl it starts filling in with new growth, which will take several seasons.

Here, very old and tall specimens of pieris are often trained into a tree-like form, just by removing all the stems and leaf growth below a specific point. Without a photo, I have no idea if this is a viable option for yours but something to consider.

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Comments (6)

Nicole Fitz (Long Island z7)
Original Author
7 years ago
I will grab a photo tonight- that idea of pruning as a tree is intriguing. I've been trying to save all I can of the old garden out of respect. But already I've ripped out several decrepit rose of sharon, an dogwood that was rotted up the middle, and a few unknown evergreen shrubs that had been deer-knibbled to look like ladies with dresses held up over their heads. I hate to continue my reign of terror if I don't have to.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
7 years ago
I've been trying to save all I can of the old garden out of respect.

===>>>

when i bought my first house.. i did the same thing .. took me 5 years.. to finally decide to get rid of the last nightmare mistake the prior owners made ...

trust me on this .. dont waste the 5 years i did ... lol ...

think of it this way.. if they left you a kitchen with 6 inch deep purple paisley shag carpet ... would you save it out of respect ... NOT ... lol .. groovy man: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=1970+shag+carpet&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

any chance of a pic.. so we can see the plant .... ken
Nicole Fitz (Long Island z7)
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
So here’s the pieris. You can see it’s been looking for light growing sort of sideways:
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
7 years ago
Photo didn't post. Make sure it fully uploads (becomes focused and loses any gray effect) before hitting submit.
drewdwise
7 years ago
I sometimes feel the same way about removing plants from previous owners. It feels wrong to not try to salvage what's already in the ground. But I completely see the logic in just getting it over with and starting new