What is this bush/tree and can it be heavily pruned?

Question

I have this growing in our back yard here in the Pacific North West US:

(Photo taken in late March)

It's full of these drooping white flowers and (what I think are) new red leaves. Feels kind of tropical.

Right now it's about 10' tall. I'm not sure if it's a bush or a tree (or if it matters).

The problem is that it was planted about 6' away from a nice Japanese Maple. So this looks rather silly at this scale next to the diminutive maple.

My question(s):

• does anyone know what this is?
• at this size, could it be heavily pruned to encourage new growth and then maintained at a more manageable size (say 4' or so)
• at this size, could it be dug up and replanted somewhere else?
• if it can be heavily pruned, can that be done now, or should I wait until next winter to do it?

Answer 1

It's a Pieris japonica of some variety, and these do make between 10 and 12 feet. They don't like being heavily pruned on a regular basis, so keeping it small isn't an option, and at that height, this is a mature shrub which, if it's to survive, would need a crane and a tarpaulin to lift out the (massive) rootball. If the Acer's (Japanese maple) not been in long, move that elsewhere instead.