By Mikegolly
Merseyside,
United Kingdom 
our pieris japonica is 5' tall quite leggy with a little growth at the top ,a lot of wood in the middle and a new shoot has sprouted about 2 inches from the ground when would be the best time to prune it down to the new growth
9 Jul, 2012
Answers
The normal recommended time for pruning Pieris is in late spring after flowering . It sounds like you are keen to do it now and given this warmish wet summer I would think you would be quite safe to do it now. Not sure I would go all the way to the 2 inches from the ground if that's what you were thinking but a tidy up trim might stimulate new growth and give you the better shape you are after.
9 Jul, 2012
They do seem to respond well to hard pruning but I wouldn't do it all at once but do half one year and the other half when the first one is recovering.Worked for mine anyway. I agree with Scotkat though, don't risk pruning down to 2". It should shoot higher up if you prune it.
9 Jul, 2012
Post a photo to let us see.
But I would tend to prune not severe only to tidy up.
To get it in to a better shape.
Good luck.
9 Jul, 2012