Pieris “Mountain Fire” as a hedge?

[TwoCoffeesandAMilkshake]

Would this work? I read that this was the hardiest variety. I think I have acidic soil fir trees and rhododendrons are the most popular plant around here).

I need something that is evergreen, but stops at a decent height. Preferably good for wildlife as well.

My front garden is tiny and the grass meets the pavement. I'd like to get a small retaining wall put in and plant some barrier plants (not go into full-on hedging due to the size of the garden).

Can't you just prune the hedge to keep it at the height you want? I haven't heard of pieris used as a hedge, it would probably not like being regularly pruned to keep low. Specific hedging plants are happy to be clipped /pruned regularly. Have a look at a hedging supplier, there's a lot of choice. Photinia is similar looking to a pieris. Lonicera Nitida is good as a dwarf hedge.

My personal choice would be berberis Darwini. The little orangey red flowers are so pretty.

Some pieris can get pretty big, though I don't know how long that takes.

I've got one (I think forest flame though not sure) in a largish pot - it's stayed at much the same size for years. Its lovely this year, though has sometimes had its red leaves scorched by spring frosts in previous years.

I guess maybe the size depends on how big the roots can get.

This suggests that they can be pruned if necessary:
horticulture.co.uk/pieris/pruning/

I have one in my garden, I guess it was planted about 20 years ago. It's about 6ft high, apart from one branch that's about 8ft and needs taking off really.

I could definitely trim it, but I’m fighting a constant battle keeping many of the trees and plants in my back garden at a reasonable height (too big for the garden and too nice to remove) that I’d like something that doesn’t grow too large.

Thank you

I wonder how dense it would be if clipped as it grew.

Im a sucker for evergreen pretty leaves 🙂

It's a lovely plant but it is a very slow grower for a hedge.

Slow grower is ok - I was thinking of buying quite large starter plants. I need to create a barrier between the garden and the path to begin with. May of my trees just won’t stop growing and I don’t want to add something else into the mix.

I've got a forest flame in my garden. It tolerates pruning pretty well - I had to give mine a fairly brutal going over last year to reduce its size and spread because of some external work we had done. It's come back really well and has a new flush of growth all over which is looking lovely right now - lots of pink and red leaves.

However the downside to pruning them is that they flower on the old growth - mine has very few flowers on it right now because of the severe haircut last year!

I think it would make an interesting hedge - and it would probably not need to be pruned every year, so you could benefit from flowers every other year (or every two years).

I prune mine, but it's not what I'd choose for a hedge as it's quite gappy and also broad.

I dont think itd make a nice hedge, theyre usually wider than they are tal - it would look better as a row of mounded shrubs. You could try photonia if youre after red or pink new foliage, theres a fairly dwarfing one if you werent wanting to cut the top each year. But it might be too fast growing.
My DF grew a rhodedendron hedge very successfully, it got cut back almost annually after flowering (though it didnt flower well as on old wood) - some years he didnt bother cutting it. He only chose it as he could take layers from rhodies he and his neighbours already had, so it was free, but it looked good. You get plenty types with interestibg foliage (fluffy undersides if leaves) if thats your thing.

I wouldn’t use a Pieris as a hedge, they are beautiful shrubs in the natural form. Have you looked at Escalonias? They make excellent hedging.