To paraphrase Richard Jaynes in his definitive book on kalmias: Mountain laurels form thier flower buds in late summer on the current season's growth. If the seed capsules are not removed, there will be no new shoot growth from that point. No new shoots = no flower buds. There's also some evidence that the ripening seed capsules produce a hormone which translocates throughout the plant and inhibits flower bud formation. Without deadheading, Jaynes says mountain laurels - especially the modern varieties (most of which he developed)- tend to be every other year bloomers. Large mountain laurels have enough growth points to bloom every year without deadheading, but the new flower buds will not be found where old dried seed capsules remain from the previous year.

Congratulation! You have a lot of courage to plant it in your z4 and you won! Take it from Connecticut's kalmias lover, where they grow like a weeds. Here are few pictures of another kalmias you might want to consider in a future, Carousel Keepsake Despite the popular belief that kalmias are shade lovers (they are shade tolerant, that's it) kalmias if planted in a too shady location will not bloom as good as those that are planted in part to full sun. The main trick is to give them protection from the WINTER sun to avoid dissecation of the leaves. In their young years they need to be protected (as you did) from the cold AND from the sun, but later on, winter sun will be your worse enemy. Use wilt-pruff and/or burlap wrap/screen. Water well before ground will be frozen, but do not overwater in a summer (especially if planted in a shade), cause Phytophora ramorum fungus while being harmless to overall plant's health could seriously ruin aesthetic appearance of the leaves. Good luck! Now I'm convinced that I could grow camellias!

You can prune it anyway you want to and it will just bush out from the cut limbs. The reason I know this is because I have a large mountain laurel planted between the street and the sidewalk. I prune the sides of it with electric hedge shears a couple of times a year to keep the sidewalk clear. Where it's been pruned makes a wall of green down to the bottom of the tree, which in this instance I prefer to give some privacy from the street. Here's a photo I just took. All you see is Mountain Laurel except for a little bit of the Cedar Elm tree at the upper left: Be advised that the buds for next years flowers have already formed, at least they have on my trees. They are the scaley looking rat tail things sticking out from the tips of the foliage, so you will loose next years flowers where ever you prune them off, but if you want to change the height of shape of the tree you'll just have to bite the bullet and prune it now.

My husband and I planted 11 one-gallon Texas mountain laurels in October of 2007, then ranging in height from 18-24". Three are in blazing hot full sun, three are in pretty much full shade, and five are part sun/part shade. As I recall, four of them bloomed just a little the first spring (2008)--one of those in sun, one in shade and two in partial sun. This year, at least seven of them bloomed (two in sun, two in shade and three in partial sun)--some with quite a few flowers. Other than one in full sun having quite a few problems (which its also full-sun neighbor three feet over doesn't have), most of them are 3-4' tall and 18-24" wide. One is 5' tall and 3' wide. So I kind of think there is something up with yours being in the ground for three years and not blooming yet. Are you watering them too much? They really don't need much water at all. Except for the fact that we're in the middle of a drought here in San Antonio, we only water when they look like they need it. Hope this helps.