I'm sure you could grow it successfully, in part but not full shade. Also keep in a non-windy location.

There's lots of variety information at the website linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: UCONN

Mt. Laurels (Kalmias) generally are not cheap and they grow slowly. Even a 10-12" plant may cost $25 from a reliable nursery. Rare Find Nursery in NJ has a good selection.

Roslynnursery.com on Long Island and Girardnurseries.com in Ohio also have a good selection of cultivars(flower colors).
As noted, they are very slow growing and not the easiest plant to propagate, so the price is going to be expensive for larger plants. Girard lists one cultivar in quart size for $6.50, but the larger sizes, 10-18" will run from $25-$40, plus shipping.Waysidegardens.com also list some in gal. size for $20-$25.
Rb

All the cultivars sold unfortunatley are from plants in New England and they are not well adapted to zone 7B. Try to find an unnamed moutain laurel that was grown locally or from the South if you can. Another problem is they don't sell b & b mt laurel anymore, which transplant easier. Most are grown in containers in some type of light potting mix and they don't transplant well.

Where are you located by the way? They are commonly available in nurseries here in North Georgia. Have you called around?

I don't know if they will grow in that heat. But saying they grow in the South--which they certainly do--can be very misleading. As you go up the mountains in the South, you get into different climate zones. That is, it is much cooler as you go up the Appalacians than it is in the lowlands. Mountain laurels are supposed to thrive in the higher elevations of Southern mountains. Don't know about down below.

Kalmia latifolia, often called Mountain Laurel, can survive and thrive in the heat and humidity found at lower elevations in the South. They are native in all of the Southern states as far south as the Florida Gulf coast and westward to Louisana. We frequently find large colonies of them in woodlands in the Piedmont area, among those, at the forest edges, are often huge specimens, up to 15 ft. tall and 10 ft. wide, covered in flowers. They must have some sunlight, preferably morning, to produce flowers. You will seldom find a flowering plant in the interior of the woodlands.
Rb

I have seen Kalmia latifolia growing outside Auburn Alabama and on the banks of Lake Martin outside of Alexander City Alabama. Neither are mountainous or what I would call hilly areas though the ones on the lake are probably cooler because of the water. Dirrs Manual says they are hardy in zones 4 to 9. Full sun or deep shade but flowers best in sunnier locations.

That's interesting. Here in New England, they are edge plants, growing along the edges of the woods. I don't see them in fields. In gardens, they winter-burn in full sun. As broad-leaf evergreens, I can't imagine them being happy in the full sun in warmer climates. I have also read that they grow so thickly in the Appalachians that they were called "laurel hells" by settlers and explorers. Must have been a sight to see.

A few years back I was camping in the Delaware River valley in Pennsylvania, and I found places where the hills were smothered with kalmia in bloom. It was spectacular!

I live in the most southerly part of mountain laurel's natural range. It only grows in the sandy, gritty soil of creek bluffs in the DEEP shade of big oaks, beeches, and southern magnolias. Although it flowers more freely in areas where a few rays of sunlight stream through the trees, it still does bloom in deep, dark shade. I live in southeastern MS, the part that was once west Florida - we've got that Gulf Coast humidity, so that's not the problem.
I recently planted some mountain laurels on my property in shade - they get a little morning sun - at the base of big trees, planted a little high for drainage in soil with pine bark, sand, and the roots that were already in the soil placed in the bottom of the planting hole. I'm hoping that having these roots next to the roots of the mountain laurels will quickly provide them the mycorrhizal fungi that I've read they need in assimilating nutrients and water - they can't tolerate fertilizer of any kind, although there is usually a deep mulch of leaves over their roots where they grow naturally. I don't know if putting these other roots in the planting hole will really help, but I doubt it'll hurt - I actually found the beginnings of new growth on my plants the other day!
Here's a picture I took of some ML flowers - mostly buds - taken last year at Cypress Creek Landing in southwest Perry County, MS -
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Sherry

I don't think there is a more difficult shrub to grow, except for daphne. Probably 9 out of 10 mt. laurels sold at nurseries die within 3 years. They sell really well every year by you never see them in yards. Where do they go?

That surprises me. They are common and easy to grow here in New England. Maybe they don't like the heat where you are? Or maybe your soil isn't acid enough?

All the cultivars come from New England. They were all developed by some guy in Connecticut. They are usually sold in containers with a real light potting soil type media and they just don't transplant and thrive here in the Mid-Atlantic. I'm sure there are exceptions though.

I grow them successfully in WV, zone 5b, rapidly becoming zone 6.

This is PA's state flower. We have some larger nurseries who sell mature b&b shrubs (I think Styer's is one that may have mature b&b kalmias).

There is an old one next to my mother's neighbor's house growing against their sunporch, which has been growing in pretty deep shade for decades, with a little afternoon sun more recently when the cedar near it fell over during a big snow storm and was removed. It had a main branch off the trunk that was about 10ft tall and the shrub blooms profusely every year. The new owner of the house recently sawed down the largest part of it that was right against the porch and left only one large branch off the main trunk. That branch had curved down over the years seeking the light and is now growing upright somewhat. This is what it looked like a few years ago before being severely pruned:

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Closeup of the branch that was eventually removed:

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I almost died when I saw what the neighbor did with the clear-cut pruning on it, thinking he was going to take it up completely, since he pretty much removed almost every single shrub in the front and replaced with [gag] grass... And that and an old rhodie looked like they were next. I think my mother got to him just in time though... He's around my age and she started "mom-ing" him. LOL I don't think he realized what he had! I know that other ericaceous shrubs do well with rejuvenation pruning but the kalmias are so slow-growing that who knows... This one does have a massive root system though, so we'll see.

Down here we grow a Texas Mountain Laurel that takes heat quite well. It grows in the sun, as well. It has a really strong grape candy fragrance. It does grow slowly, but not as slow as some other cultivars, it seems by the other posts.

Texas mountain laurel isn't a kalmia, it's scientific name is sophora secundiflora, an entirely different plant.
All my kalmias are making new growth, and one appears to be making flower buds - so far, so good!
Sherry