Nandina won't make it there, and is optimized in full sun anyway. Pieris is much better, and 'Mt Fire' may be a tad too common, look for others.

Dan

Pieris is very tricky here. A combination of cold and high pH. If you can't find it locally, there is probably a very good reason.

I've been looking for evergreen foundations shrubs for the front of my house for years now. It faces almost due north, and is fairly exposed to winter winds. Yews are really the only thing I've found that is going to be reliable, and those have to be fenced off from deer.

I just had more than one cultivar of nandina go south big time this past winter in USDA 8. I had noticed dieback of this shrub elsewhere in the area after the 1990 winter (coldest in 30 years) but did not expect to see such a level of failure with my more recent plantings.

Tops completely dead-looking, with not much promise shown by roots when pulled up. Even if a few weak-looking sprouts were going to come from the roots eventually, why bother?

Thanks for the feedback! I may just go garden center "hopping" this weekend and see what my options are based on what's readily available. I see my heart lies south of where we live often though...I just love so many things we can't grow up here in zone 5!!

A whole book on ornamentals hardy to -20F was written in the 1980s by J. Sabuco and called THE BEST OF THE HARDIEST. You might want to see if that is at a library near you or can be gotten a hold of through your public library system.

Pieris Japonica- I bought one this spring- think it might have been mt fire, not sure. Put it in the ground, and it hasn't looked good since. No blooms, leaves somewhate crinkled looking. Is this normal? Where's all the new red growth and/or blooms? Do they prefer a certain kind of soil? So far, NOT impressed. It gets only morning sun and is in moist soil. Any other opinions on this plant? Thanks.

Pieris require acid soil.

Variegated Pieris Flaming Silver is one of my favorite shrubs. It looks beautiful at any season. It is also more compact than other Pieris varieties - more suitable for foundation planting.

Not all Pieris have new growth which is red in color, depends on the variety. If yours is growing but isn't red, maybe you have one of the all-greens. I didn't want red foliage, so went looking for the all-green options.

I wouldn't be surprised if being planted in spring interrupted bloom, but the crinkled leaves don't sound familiar to me. Sounds insect-related.

For the OP, I had a Pieris growing in part shade for 12 years in my last home, which was zone 7. Now I am zone 6, and wanted some as foundation plants, and the plantsman at the nursery here told me they do well as foundation plants if they aren't on the windy side of the house (here, that means west, don't know about your location). So, placement as well as overall temps may be a factor.

I have pieris in various places on my property. All planted at the same time about 7-8 years ago. The couple that I have in almost full shade are growing larger than any others, however I don't see too many flowers. I have some in full sun that do get some red growth but they are very slow growing and also don't flower much. There is a house not far from me that has 2 pieris growing in blazing sun on each side of their front door. They grow beautifully. Nice red new growth every year and profuse blooming. I just can't figure out pieris. It seems that if you happen to find just the right spot it will be magnificent but if not they may limp along to a certain extent.

Have you also checked out Kalmia? I like this shrub much more than pieris. Between the buds and flowers they put on a great show.

2 pics of Pieris in heavy shade. Both always have good new growth and are over 3' high, but they never flower very much at all.
{{gwi:253838}}

{{gwi:253840}}

This is pieris growing in full sun. Nice new red growth, but slower growing (about 1/3 the size of the 2 above) and again barely any flowering. It is the same variety as the 2 in the above photos (not sure which variety though).
{{gwi:253842}}

This is a Kalmia. Took a hard hit over the winter with a bad ice storm we had, but it will recover nicely. For evergreen and flowering I definitely prefer Kalmia over Pieris. I don't have a pic handy of the Kalmia in bud or flower.
{{gwi:253844}}

Hope that helps a little bit. I also have zone envy for Nandina!

I just bought a Mountain Fire Pieris from Lowes and they told me they are performing nicely in zone 4 if protected from wind and receiving morning sun only. I am planning on planting it near a PJM rhondendron I bought last year though did not amend my soils ph level of 8 yet. I am considering uprooting the PJM and amending the soil before planting the Mountain Fire with spaghnum peat moss, though was told by a local nursery owner that "with Iowa's blue black earth we did not need to amend our soil anything grows here and most rhodendrons didn't do well this year because of the winter"....

I'm not sure I'm buying the not amending the soil thing.

I don't recommend it at all- even in the South- Reported to kill Cedar Waxwings. So many native plants will thrive.

http://www.decaturish.com/2017/03/invasive-bushes-in-decatur-killing-cedar-waxwings/