Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

4 ft 11 in

In-row spacing

4 ft 11 in

Between rows

6 ft 2 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type

Shrub · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Partial shade is ideal; it takes sun only where the soil stays moist.

Watering

Keep it moist with rainwater, and never let it sit waterlogged.

Feeding

An ericaceous feed once flowering is done.

Frost tolerant

Yes

Flowering

April

Pruning

A light trim after flowering, taking the dead heads off with it.

Through the year

• Mar–Apr Spring Growth
• Apr–Jul Flowering
• Jul–Dec Growing
• Jan–Mar Growing

Companions

Rhododendron, Camellia, Azalea, Ferns

Pests & problems

• Lace bugs Pieris lace bug
• Vine weevil Adults notch leaf edges at night; their plump C-shaped grubs devour roots, especially in containers. Hand-pick adults after dark and water in biological nematodes in late summer.
• Phytophthora root and foot rot Phytophthora root rot

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Assassin bug Reduviidae
  Hunts Lace bugs

  A patient ambusher with a curved beak it drives into whatever it catches — caterpillars, beetles, bugs, and the occasional bee, so count it a generalist rather than a specialist. It will jab a careless finger too, so admire it and leave it be.

  Plant nearby DillFennelGoldenrodSweet alyssumTansyYarrow
• Beneficial nematodes Steinernema & Heterorhabditis spp.
  Hunts Vine weevil

  Microscopic worms watered onto damp soil that hunt down soil-dwelling grubs and release a bacterium that kills them within days. Timing is the whole thing: warm, damp soil and a small target grub, which means late summer for most of what they are used against.

• Frogs & toads Anura
  Hunts Vine weevil

  A resident toad works the beds every night for slugs, cutworms, and weevils. Recruit them with water — even a sunken basin pond — plus damp shade and an upturned-pot toad house; skip the slug pellets that poison their prey.

• Green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
  Hunts Lace bugs

  Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.

  Plant nearby CilantroCosmosDillSunflowerYarrow
• Ground beetle Carabidae
  Hunts Vine weevil

  Fast, glossy night hunters that patrol the soil surface for slugs, cutworms, and root-fly larvae. Give them daytime cover — thick perennial edges, stepping stones, a log — and skip the tillage that wrecks their burrows.

  Plant nearby LavenderMintThyme
• Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus
  Hunts Vine weevil

  A European animal, and worth saying so plainly: there are no hedgehogs in North America, and the ally that does the same night shift here is the toad, the opossum or the ground beetle. Where they do occur, cut a gap in the fence and skip the pellets.

• Minute pirate bug Orius spp.
  Hunts Lace bugs

  A pinhead-sized true bug that is the best natural check on thrips, and happily spears aphids, mites, and insect eggs too. It needs pollen when prey is scarce, so keep something flowering nearby.

  Plant nearby CosmosFennelFrench marigoldSweet alyssum