Mountain laurels come in a array of colors from white to rose, pink and lavender and typically reach 5 to 15 feet in height and spread. Photos courtesy Norman Winter
Mountain Laurels Make Spring Even More Incredible By Norman Winter The mountain laurels that bloom in the South add to what has been an incredible spring. No doubt under Mother Nature’s watch full eye the mountain laurel bloom will progress northward in amazing fashion. Stunning is a word I often use to describe a particular plant but today that word is reserved today for the apparent lack of utilization of the wonderful large shrub or small tree that is native from Louisiana to Indiana eastward to Maine and then down to Florida. With that huge geographical range, we hopefully have answered your first question, no you don’t have to have a mountain to grow it. Yet you’ll find them along mountainous roads, and a wide variety of habitats. In fact, if you grow azaleas, rhododendrons or blueberries you are a prime candidate for a mountain laurel, and I say let it happen. Botanically speaking the mountain laurel is known as Kalmia latifolia. When you first see it in full bloom you start to think could they possibly be some kind of rhododendron. They indeed are in the Ericaceae family so they are related. You’ll find them in some of the most spectacular scenery in our country. My wide Jan and I were doing a little mountain laurel hunting with the camera and found breathing taking old specimen hanging over the gentle rapids of Palmetto Creek in Harris County, GA.
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SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS REAL ESTATE
SUNDAY, May 23, 2021
