© The Dabney Nursery
Plant: Mountain Fire - Lily of the Valley / Pieris
Lily of the Valley / Pieris · Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire'
Size: 6 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
A slow growing broadleaf evergreen shrub with dense, erect to spreading form, glossy leathery leaves and, in this cultivar, vivid red new growth that matures to green. Drooping terminal clusters 3 to 6 inches long carry showy white urn shaped flowers in spring, followed by small brown capsules that ripen in late summer and persist into winter. It requires acidic, high organic matter soil that stays moist but drains, and it is deer resistant. Use it in a border, a foundation planting or an Asian or cottage garden. All parts are poisonous: the flowers, leaves and sap contain grayanotoxins and ingestion can be fatal.
- Part Shade
- Grows to 10 ft tall and 8 ft wide
- Blooms in spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 4b-8b
- Evergreen foliage
Plant description
A slow growing broadleaf evergreen shrub with dense, erect to spreading form, glossy leathery leaves and, in this cultivar, vivid red new growth that matures to green. Drooping terminal clusters 3 to 6 inches long carry showy white urn shaped flowers in spring, followed by small brown capsules that ripen in late summer and persist into winter. It requires acidic, high organic matter soil that stays moist but drains, and it is deer resistant. Use it in a border, a foundation planting or an Asian or cottage garden. All parts are poisonous: the flowers, leaves and sap contain grayanotoxins and ingestion can be fatal.
- Flowers
- Showy white inverted urn shaped flowers in 3 to 6 inch long terminal, drooping clusters in spring.
- Foliage
- Simple, alternate, glossy leathery evergreen leaves 1 to 4 inches long with crenate serrate margins; 'Mountain Fire' pushes vivid red new growth that matures to green.
- Fruit
- Small quarter inch dehiscent five valved capsules that ripen in late summer and persist into winter.
- Bark & stems
- The bark is reddish brown, scaly, split, and vertically fissured when mature. Twigs are hairless.
- Pruning
- Tolerates pruning, but next season's blossoms appear on old growth, so prune right after flowering.
- Native range
- Southeast China, central to southern Japan and Taiwan
