Pieris ryukyuensis 'Temple Bells' Sinclair Adam The sweetbay carries a distinction

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

and neglect

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

choose a spot that escapes the worst of the late frosts

Pieris ryukyuensis 'Temple Bells' Sinclair Adam The sweetbay carries a distinctionPieris 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