Pieris ryukyuensis 'Temple Bells' Sinclair Adam entire ovals

entire ovals

The sweetbay carries a distinction few American trees can claim: the honor of being the first magnolia known to European gardens

and neglect

grown for a froth of white

treasured mostly by naturalists and those who paid attention to the subtler threads of the region's flora

Pieris ryukyuensis 'Temple Bells' Sinclair Adam entire ovalsPieris ryukyuensis is the lily of the valley shrub of the Ryukyu Islands, the warm archipelago that trails south from Japan toward Taiwan, and 'Temple Bells' is a choice selection of this heat tolerant species. The glossy, slightly toothed evergreen leaves emerge a warm bronze and mature to deep green, giving a polished, year round presence on a dense, rounded frame of three to six feet. In spring the shrub hangs dense clusters of small white, bell