# Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

> Native evergreen with clusters of origami-like pink and white flowers in June and twisted, sculptural trunks.

Also called calico bush, spoonwood. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-laurel/

![Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) clusters of white cup-shaped flowers and pink buds among glossy evergreen leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/mountain-laurel-3-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Blue Whale Trees*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 5 to 12 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 4 to 9
- Grows wild in: Dry uplands, the Appalachians, the forest understory and rocky ground
- Native range: 24 states and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), north to [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC))
- Sun: Part, Shade, Full
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: April to June
- Fruit: Capsules, September to October
- First crop: 4 to 8 years (first flowers)
- Mature spread: 8 ft
- Traits: Evergreen, Showy flowers, Tolerates shade, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Mountain laurel grows under oaks on acid, rocky, well-drained soil from Maine to Florida. Its June bloom is one of the sights of the eastern woods, and its glossy evergreen leaves give winter structure. It fails in clay, wet soil and lime. Seed-grown plants are tougher than the cultivars. All parts are toxic, and honey made from it is too, so do not site it near hives. Plant it as an evergreen screen under pines or oaks, on an acid slope that drains.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Mountain laurel is slow. Young plants under 15 years add about 5 inches of height and 3½ inches of crown width a year. Our growth estimator likewise files it in the slow class. Most mature plants stand 6 to 10 feet tall and 4 to 8 feet wide as a dense, rounded shrub, though on Appalachian slopes it occasionally becomes a small tree over 30 feet. The oldest stem dated by its rings was at least 65 years old.

The flowers open from late April into June, from buds formed the previous summer. Each cup is about an inch across, white to rose with purple-red markings inside, and bumblebees are its main pollinators. The capsules that follow are tiny, about 3/16 of an inch, yet each holds 300 to 700 seeds. Every part of the plant is poisonous to people and livestock.

It grows wild from southeast Maine to the Florida panhandle and west to Louisiana, in the mountains, the Piedmont and the coastal plain, often on rocky or sandy acid slopes.

## How to grow Mountain Laurel

Mountain laurel takes part shade, deep shade or full sun, though the sunnier the spot the more steady moisture it needs. Give it average, sharply drained ground, and where the soil is heavy plant on a low mound. It fills a corner at full size, so set plants 5 feet apart and 4 feet off a path.

Plant while dormant. Saplings arrive potted with a dense, shallow root mass, so loosen the outer roots, dig wide and shallow, and keep the top of the ball slightly proud of grade. Backfill with native soil and mulch with leaf litter or pine straw, thinner near the stems. No stake is called for. Seed is dust-fine and needs light. Keep it damp in the refrigerator for eight weeks, then sow it on the surface of moist peat mix, uncovered, at room temperature under lights and a clear cover. Seedlings come up within a few weeks.

The roots sit near the surface, so water through the first two summers whenever the top inch dries, and never let the mulch disappear. Deer usually pass it by, but a hard winter changes their minds, so cage young plants. Snapping off spent flower clusters improves next year's bloom.

Mountain laurel sets some seed with its own pollen, but less than when bees bring pollen from another plant, so plant two or more if you want seed. Lace bugs stipple the leaves in hot full sun, and leaf spot follows still, damp shade, so a half-shaded, airy site dodges both. Every part of mountain laurel is poisonous, so keep prunings away from goats, sheep and other stock.

## Sources

- [USDA Fire Effects Information System, Kalmia latifolia](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/shrub/kallat/all.html)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Kalmia latifolia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/kalmia-latifolia/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Kalmia latifolia](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=kala)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Kalmia latifolia](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/KALA)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Kalmia chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Kalmia.pdf)
- [Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC: Laurel, factsheet HGIC 1069](https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/laurel/)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Kalmia latifolia](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=220007026)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=52)
- [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Kalmia latifolia](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/kalmia/latifolia/)
- [UConn Plant Database: Kalmia latifolia](https://plantdatabase.uconn.edu/detail.php?pid=236)
- [Jansen, Kleerekooper, Hofman, Kappen, Stary-Weinzinger and van der Heyden 2012, Grayanotoxin Poisoning: 'Mad Honey Disease' and Beyond, Cardiovascular Toxicology 12(3): 208](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3404272/)
- [Jaynes 1997, Kalmia: Mountain Laurel and Related Species, Timber Press](https://archive.org/details/kalmiamountainla00jayn)
- [Jaynes 1975, The Laurel Book: Rediscovery of the North American Laurels, Hafner Press](https://archive.org/details/laurelbookredisc0000jayn)
- [Forest Ecology and Management: Brose 2016, Forest Ecology and Management 374:33-41](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.04.040)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Native replacements for burning bush, barberry, privet, Bradford pear, boxwood, butterfly bush and forsythia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-replacements-for-burning-bush-and-bradford-pear/index.html.md)
- [Native shrubs and trees deer usually leave alone, and why the lists disagree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-shrubs-and-trees-deer-leave-alone/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other laurels (Kalmia) we grow: [Carolina Bog Laurel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/carolina-bog-laurel/index.html.md), [Hairy Laurel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hairy-laurel/index.html.md), [Sand Myrtle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sand-myrtle/index.html.md), [Sheep Laurel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sheep-laurel/index.html.md), [White Wicky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/white-wicky/index.html.md)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Cumberland Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/cumberland-azalea/index.html.md), [Piratebush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/piratebush/index.html.md), [Mapleleaf Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mapleleaf-viburnum/index.html.md) and [Roseshell Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roseshell-azalea/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Hop Hornbeam](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hop-hornbeam/index.html.md), [Chestnut Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chestnut-oak/index.html.md) and [Sweet Birch (Black Birch)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweet-birch/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Sand Myrtle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sand-myrtle/index.html.md), [Hairy Laurel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hairy-laurel/index.html.md), [Sheep Laurel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sheep-laurel/index.html.md) and [Carolina Bog Laurel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/carolina-bog-laurel/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Mountain Laurel, add ?species=mountain-laurel with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 4, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=mountain-laurel&zone=4&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Mountain Laurel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=mountain-laurel): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Mountain Laurel as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=mountain-laurel (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Mountain Laurel is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=mountain-laurel (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Mountain Laurel needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 2 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=mountain-laurel:2
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Mountain Laurel where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=mountain-laurel&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Mountain Laurel goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=mountain-laurel&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Mountain Laurel flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=mountain-laurel