Pieris question

Having admired several pieris in a friend's garden some while ago, she visited yesterday bringing me a beautiful specimen (Forest Flame) as a belated birthday present. Unfortunately, I don't have acid soil and would therefore be grateful for a bit of guidance.

If I plant it in my neutral soil, will it survive? Or, failing that, if I were to put it in a container of ericaceous compost and sink that in the ground - bearing in mind it's currently in a 4 ltr pot but urgently needs something bigger - how big a container would you suggest I use?

 

I would guess it would need a HUGE pot. I do have acidic soil, and my Forest Flame grew to unbelievable heights. Had to get a tree man in in the end to lop the top off. It's probably only about 8ft now, but it was twice that size.

So, I know they can grow ridiculously large in the right place.

Strange though, because I have one in the front garden, and that's a much more well behaved 2-3ft.

 

I suspect it will do OK in a neutral soil. I have a 'Forest Flame' and my soil is neutral. It is growing extremely slowly (currently about 2 feet after 20 years) - but they have a reputation for that. I have never heard of them growing as tall as Rachel's, but perhaps that is the difference that acid soil makes.

 

Thank you Peter. I'm happy for it to grow slowly - my friend has 6' x 6' bushes, but then she has a garden which can accommodate them - I don't! I just didn't want to kill it (too soon anyway!)

 

It will be fine in neutral soil

 

I had one in my old garden that was on moist slightly acid soil; it got to 6ft+ fairly quickly...

My neighbour at that house planted one in his front garden, which was less acidic and a lot drier, that has only grown a foot or so in about 6 years!!

 

Again - thank you everyone

 

My Mother insisted on growing whatever took her fancy, regardless of our alkaline clay soil.

Camellias in half-barrels, pits lined with plastic and filled with ericaceous soil, application of [Murphy's] Sequestered Iron at regular intervals ...

The plants never looked healthy, to my eye, and I decided it was way too much effort, and my policy is to not allow plants that don't like my soil onto the plot!

But I wish you good luck, its a lovely plant (but so are Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Camellias ...)

 

I can't find a totally authoritative source, but I believe that Pieris comes from mountain forests. Which implies that they like shady moist areas. Mine is in full sun and must get rather dry, which probably accounts for its slow growth as much or more than the acidity of the soil.

 

My huge one is planted in a pretty moist area as well. And shady for a lot of the year. Going to see if i can find a photo of it in it's full glory....

You can just see it in the back of that shot


And here it is again - doesn't even fit into this (blurry) photo. My hubby took this one, his photos are always blurry


But you can see the rhododendron and the azalea in that one as well, and they're flowering nicely, so we must have good soil for that kind of thing.

Also, these photos were two years before it got chopped - so it was bigger than that in the end!

This year, it does look good on top though - really bright red at the moment. i'm quite gutted that it might have to be moved when we sort the garden after the extension. I'm guessing it's really to big to uproot and replant? Do you reckon I could get cuttings or something off it?
I'm generally not bothered, but it does have some sentimental value to me (I know that's a bit strange for a plant, but I have strong memories of my dad and grandad with it).

 

Rachel - thats monstrous. I have never seen anything like that.

However I am becoming convinced that moisture is a key ingredient. I mentioned this thread to my next door neighbour who showed me one that had been in the dry front of the house and had grown very little. But two years ago he moved it to a shady, moist spot in the back garden and he said it had grown enormously over the two years. It was certainly much bigger than mine.