The bad winter winds are from the northeast. That's why they call them Nor'easters.

Hmmm.......I have never heard of pieris being referred to as "finicky". As long as you have sufficiently acidic soils, good drainage, can supply water as needed to keep soil moist and keep them out of direct winter winds, they are tough evergreen shrubs hardy to zone 5/6. If you can grow rhododendrons, you can grow pieris. However, I would never consider paying $100 for one!! That is an outrageous price! A 4' pieris in a 5G container here might push $60 here at higher end nurseries but Mountain Fire is one of the most common varieties (planted in commercial sites like parking lots here) and available at most box stores in a similar size for much less.

Alot of pieris here gets dieback on some branches. Its definitely more pickier than the toughest shrubs, like spiraea. Anyways then I don’t think this spot is suitable for it then. The wind and sun is just gonna kill it.

Well, the Pieris I have ('Shojo') are equally as tough as my Spirea and maybe even a bit more forgiving as far as blooming in shade. They are next to huge old oak trees so the ground is super dry, they get almost no sun when the trees are leafed out and blazing sun when they are not. I hardly ever water back there and noticed just last month that they have gotten huge and were blooming their little hearts out.

I see Pieris planted commonly as a foundation shrub in suburban areas here in zone 5b and never notice much winter dieback on them.

I’m just mostly concerned about the wind factor coming from the east. If I’m standing where the pieris gets planted and facing east, here is what it looks like. Fence on both sides so won’t is essentially be a wind tunnel?

How long have you lived at that location, Heruga? You should know by now where the worst winds come from and how they affect your yard. I've been at my new home for 1 1/2 years-second spring now. I know thoroughly by now how the wind hits the yard.

Usually coming from the west. I specifically remember a cold winter night of 0 degrees with 50 mph wind we had and it was definitely coming from the west. But wind direction can change too. I remember I covered my pachysandras with pond underlayment and the underlayment was ’peeled off’ from the wind which means the wind also blew from the east too.

Sounds like a good spot as long as it can get good drainage. They hate an overly wet spot. In my mind, that is the most important requirement for planting Pieris. I've seen them absolutely thrive in an open western exposure, but it had excellent drainage. I wouldn't be concerned about the direction of the winds.

One other factor is if the morning sun hits them in March/early April and they break dormancy early, followed by a hard frost, you could possibly lose early growth or flowers. But that can happen any year no matter the siting.

I remember I covered my pachysandras with pond underlayment

Plastic I assume. Not sure why you would do this. Plastic is never good to have touching plants, and pachysandra should have no problem from wind. It's fully hardy in your zone and plants don't suffer from wind chill like warm blooded creatures. Certainly all the people that have beds of pachysandra don't worry about wind chill of the pachysandra.

And of course the wind can change direction, but there is a prevailing wind direction.

Pond underlayment it fabric. My pachysandra have already been suffering since 2 years ago with harsh winter winds and a little more sun(still only 4-5 hours a day) than they need. I‘m guessing all that stress caused them to get blight. I’ve planted some trees nearby and hoped that they can tolerate a little sun until the trees get big to cast shade but maybe they couldn’t wait.

Either ways I ended up getting the pieris and planted it yesterday.

Edit: Forgot to answer your first question. I’ve lived at my current home for almost 3 years.

" Either ways I ended up getting the pieris and planted it yesterday. "

Please tell me you didn't pay $100 for it!! Sheesh!!

Sorry, I did… no nursery by me sells a 2-3ft pieris for 60$. Not sure if its regional differences and me being close to nyc but everything is expensive here

Oh, one more thing about the pachysandra. They’re still young plants that I started from cuttings 4 years ago, that’s why I covered it. Not an established pachysandra bed yet.

So from what everyone is saying I can let pachysandra take over an area that has Mountain Fire as long as there is water and good drainage and acidic soil?

I wouldn't ask a shallow rooted shrub like Pieris to compete with Pachysandra.