Japanese Pieris

Pieris japonica, Japanese andromeda, is a dense broadleaf evergreen shrub native to southeast China, central and southern Japan and Taiwan, reaching eight to ten feet. Drooping panicles of small white urn-shaped flowers open in early spring, and the new foliage emerges in bronze, copper or brilliant red before hardening to glossy dark green.

Flower buds form in autumn and hang on the plant through winter as decorative rust-coloured chains, so it carries interest even before it blooms. Every part contains grayanotoxins and is seriously poisonous to people, dogs and livestock — worth knowing before planting it where children or animals roam.