Interstella pieris is one of the earliest blooming plants, starting its display of beautiful, bell-like, ruby-colored flowers before the calendar (and the weather!) even say its spring. And there are hundreds of them, dangling delicately from fine stems against a gorgeous evergreen backdrop. The flowers persist for a very long time - two months or more, often - and when they are done, the plant begins a dazzling display of star-like bright red new growth. So, obviously, it's beautiful, but there's more: this is possibly the most shade tolerant flowering shrub, blooming well even in very low light conditions, and it's deer resistant, too.