Plant of the Week: Mountain Laurel

Of all the broad-leaf, flowering evergreens, the Mountain Laurel is my favorite!

The Mountain Laurel bush is understated; it always grows in the shadows of something, or at the base of another, larger, plant….. Off in the shady, shadows, and is happy to be there, and blooms beautifully where nothing else will!

The flowers of the Mountain Laurel, I believe, are very special; they are the last to bloom, in the showy broad-leaf evergreen procession of flowering shrubs in the Northeast.

The young buds of the Mountain Laurel look like bunches of tiny balloons.

Small flowers make up a cluster bloom, the individual flowers remind me of ‘pinwheels’, they are very intricate and detailed, if you take the time to examine them. 

The color variations are spectacular!

Pruning is not necessary, in fact it doesn't like to be pruned, it is a polite, slow grower  it grows away from other plants, and it benefits from hand removal of spent flowers.

Overall the Mountain Laurel is an exceptional shrub:

Beautiful dark green, shiny evergreen leaves,

Slow growing,

Hardy in zones 5-9

Flourishes in partial sun, to shade,

Loves acidic, moist, sandy, loamy or clay soil

Flowers late June thru July

Attracts butterflies and is deer resistant

The Mountain Laurel is a magnificent shrub, if there is a shady spot in your landscape where nothing else will grow, plant a little magic, plant a Mountain Laurel then sit back and relax…..it is totally worth the wait!    Maureen