Brown on the tips of pieris japonicas. - Ask Extension
I have numerous pieris japonica plants. They have previously been healthy, and are decades years old. Of late, just in the past week, the tips of the...
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Brown on the tips of pieris japonicas. #929736
Asked April 27, 2026, 8:40 AM EDT
I have numerous pieris japonica plants. They have previously been healthy, and are decades years old. Of late, just in the past week, the tips of the plants have turned brown. Can you help identify the cause and possible solutions.
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
It's hard to make a diagnosis without images of the symptoms, but given the timing and description of the symptoms, it's almost certainly cold damage from the frost/freeze that much of Maryland experienced last week.
Hardy plants do not retain their freeze tolerance once they have broken dormancy and begun to produce new growth, which is why temperature swings between very mild days and cold snaps in spring can be very damaging. We've received many inquiries about such damage on a variety of tree, shrub, and perennial species that had begun to grow or leaf-out when the we had a freeze overnight.
Nothing can heal the injured tissues, but healthy and well-established plants usually have enough energy reserves to produce new growth, though it may take them a few weeks to start to look normal again. It would be best to wait to see how the plant fares, and only trim branches if they remain bare (having no new growth) once the rest of the shrub leafs-out again. The wilted/singed leaves will eventually fall off on their own as they dry out.
We are still in a worsening drought, carried over from the past two years of insufficient rain. It would reduce plant stress to monitor them for watering needs and irrigate them periodically as needed. The linked page has watering guidance. Producing new growth requires ample root moisture, and the process can be hindered or stalled if a plant is too drought-stressed.
Miri
Hardy plants do not retain their freeze tolerance once they have broken dormancy and begun to produce new growth, which is why temperature swings between very mild days and cold snaps in spring can be very damaging. We've received many inquiries about such damage on a variety of tree, shrub, and perennial species that had begun to grow or leaf-out when the we had a freeze overnight.
Nothing can heal the injured tissues, but healthy and well-established plants usually have enough energy reserves to produce new growth, though it may take them a few weeks to start to look normal again. It would be best to wait to see how the plant fares, and only trim branches if they remain bare (having no new growth) once the rest of the shrub leafs-out again. The wilted/singed leaves will eventually fall off on their own as they dry out.
We are still in a worsening drought, carried over from the past two years of insufficient rain. It would reduce plant stress to monitor them for watering needs and irrigate them periodically as needed. The linked page has watering guidance. Producing new growth requires ample root moisture, and the process can be hindered or stalled if a plant is too drought-stressed.
Miri
Thank you so much for your quick response. The plants look healthy except for those tips and they are still green when “bent.” Interestingly enough, the leaves toward the base of the plants are very green - perhaps they were protected from the recent cold. This has never happened to these plants before so I assume this weather is to blame. Thanks again. I attached pictures. This looks like new growth, it it is really damaged tips. 
On Monday, April 27, 2026, 11:40 AM, Ask Extension wrote:
Thank you for the photos and additional information. Yes, that does look like classic frost/freeze damage. The cold affects tender new growth, and generally not the foliage that was present on the shrub all winter. Frost/freeze damage also does tend to have a top-down effect on plants, where uppermost foliage is affected first or more extensively (though that's also generally where most of the new growth will be, since that's the part of the shrub getting the most light and where the youngest branch wood is).
Miri
Miri
