Kalmia latifolia

SHRUB: Kalmia latifolia (Mountain Laurel)

March 10, 2023

Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
This handsome, native, eastern North American evergreen is the State Flower of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Its glossy, leathery leaves make lovely winter-season decorations that were so popular in the early twentieth century that Connecticut passed a law in 1917 to protect Mountain Laurels from being stolen from private property to sell. The Virginia Native Plant Society named Mountain Laurel as Wildflower of the Year in 1994.

Native Woody Plants Provide Shelter and Nesting Sites for Wildlife

February 1, 2023

When we speak of our gardens sustaining local wildlife, we’re often thinking of the nectar and pollen that insects and hummingbirds collect from our flowering plants . . . Woody plants provide shelter and nesting spots for animals in our home landscapes with their evergreen foliage, holes and hollows, thorns and thickets.