Japanese Andromeda - Pieris japonica - All about Pieris

Right now, walking around New Haven, it's hard to miss the Pieris blooming here and there. Well represented on Yale's campus, this wonderful evergreen shrub is very useful in the urban and collegiate landscape.
The original collegiate landscape was a walled garden at a sanctuary called Akademia, near Athens, where Plato established his school of philosophy. The walled aspect of the institution of learning carried through into the Middle Ages, when the centers of Western knowledge were the cloistered monasteries and churches. I want to be sure to underline 'Western' because the Islamic world was already well into their Renaissance, with advances in medicine, mathematics, nature and music to the extent that explained Gandhi's response to a question (much later of course) concerning his thoughts on Western Civilization: "I think it would be a good idea."
The oldest colleges and universities of Europe were mostly settled in small walled cities, but also themselves enclosed within walls. The first divergence from this tendency would be the English university lay-out, that while there were walls (what would hold up the ceilings and roofs), they were more open to the surrounding towns and countryside. Designed using quadrants as the basic building block, the intersections and overlaps were used to provide counterpoints and focus for the larger spaces between.
This English collegiate landscape is the model used for most of the US colleges and universities founded before 1970 or so. Since then, the newer colleges have been community colleges and a few satellites of land grant universities (the New College excepted) centered around parking lots: the commuter school refers not only to the students but to the type of landscape that provides best and easiest access.
Forgive the divergence, but the subject has always interested me, this development of the college/university landscape. The pressures that Title IX brought to bear on athletic field access and equity created turning points in the history of the landscape for several colleges. The use of the automobile cannot be discounted in discussing any university's development. The change from an all-male or all-female student body to co-ed
populations also affected many school landscapes in subtle ways, as did soaring property values, development pressure, fashions in landscape design and curriculum changes.
Pieris japonica is in its glory at this time of year. The fragrant white flowers clustered into eight-to-ten inch-long groups (called 'panicles') attract attention from bikers, hikers, walkers, drivers and honey-bees. When in bloom, there are few displays as potent as the Pieris.
I love the plant because of its ... read more at www.gardenclips.com/2012/04/12...

[@thegambler2196]

Oh wow, I had no idea they get that big. I have had one for 2 years and is about 2 feet tall. I'm taking a shot at propagating some cuttings this year.

[@thebluestplanet6768]

I trimmed mine up from the bottom, leaving a thick canopy and exposed trunk so it resembles a bonsai tree. It is such a beautiful plant.

[@myl3monlim348]

A photo would be nice!

[@karint1956]

Excellent video with interesting information.

[@CarolineHooks]

Great video! Lacebugs really get these in full sun. Part to full shade is really better.

[@LindaCasey]

Wonderful .. thanks. Do you suppose they would also grow in the Netherlands?

[@barronguy]

So they only bloom for about a month?

[@SarahTeresaHarrison]

Hi, loved the Video I was worried because my Pieris leaves at the top had turned brown colour with the cold weather will it be OK Sarah from Scotland

[@helenbryan6724]

Great info! I have one in my yard.

[@Gardenclips]

+Helen Bryan Glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching!

[@nicolareddwooddforest4481]

Hello, I attached my video. Someone told me that the plant I am showing in my video is Pieris Japonica, I thought it was some type of Oleander. Would you help me identify my plant? I had a severely toxic reaction to the plant when I made tea with it. I initially thought that it was a blueberry type that's why I had made the tea. But the symptoms are those of Oleander.

[@redmadjr]

Pieris Japonica are poisonous to people and animals. They are beautiful but will make you ill or worse if consumed.