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—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.
*It is native to DC and common in DE and MD. It is present in most of PA except for two northwest counties. In VA, it is more or less common throughout except it is infrequent in the outer and far southeastern Coastal Plain. You can view the VA counties in which it has been reported here.
**As part of its criminal law reform, CT repealed the Laurel Law in 1969.
Learn more about Kalmia latifolia.
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