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.

hi, i just wanted to add a little info here. the laurels grow very long tap roots and do not like to be transplanted more than about 2-3 feet from where you pulled them up from the ground. i would recommend starting them in a tall container before planting them in the ground. be VERY gentle with the root system, it is VERY sensitive and any damage during moving can cause stunted and delayed growth/blooms. also fertilizing for faster growth is unneccessary, faster growth can actually delay blooms by up to 3-5 yrs. some of these trees have been known not to bloom until they are more than 10 yrs old. they are slow growers and will often go thru periods of dormancy. im not sure what triggers the sleep or wakes them up. my guess is temp and water. remember, texas is green in the hill country but it is still a dry rocky sandy desert on top of old limestone. too much water or not enough heat can cause little growth and death. your best bet is to plant the seed directly where you want it or in a container that will allow for a 6-10 inch long taproot. alot of root will develop before the plants start to grow above the soil. if you planted the seed in the yard expect the root to grow as long as 2ft before the plant itself is 6-12 inches. breaking off any part of the root system can be detrimental during the first couple years of growth. if you are having trouble starting the seeds, drill a tiny hole in the top just into the flesh or score it thru the shell wih a file . the shell is super tough and may take some creativity to break into. ive heard of rubbing them raw with sandpaper if they cant be easily scored. afterwards soak them in warm ( simulate texas rain)water for 24-48 hrs. seeds that swell to about 3x size will grow quickly, others will take longer. you can place them with the hole/score side pointed up on top of potting soil, then layer about 1/2 inch of sand on top. this will mimick the dry caliche dirt in texas. i would recommend a bottom layer of whatever soil the tree will be planted in after it is removed from the pot to aclimate the sensitive roots system. these trees do not require watering most of the time. excessive water will kill them off. i would not recommend any pruning as it will inhibit blooms, most of the time the tree naturally grows into a rounded or umbrella shape. if you do decide to prune, leave the flowers and "snakes" ( i call them that too:). leave the seed pods on the tree until they fall off or most of the green has toned down toward greyish brown. the seeds need time to mature. you can take them out of the pods and grow them just as they begin to turn from light green to pink and this may help speed up the germination process because the shell is still soft and thin. it is not unheard of for a seed to wait 2-3 years to finally sprout. this is a SLOW growing tree that can be trained into a bush or tree art( like benches etc) it can be trimmed to have a single central trunk or multiple trunks. ive even seen one trained to be a trellis. i think they look best with 5-6 trunks, it helps spread the canopy and gives more flowers. they enjoy hot days and full sun the most. as for the bugs that eat them, try to find out what sort of birds eat the bugs and try to attract them to your yard with seed or homes. otherwise i would look for a biodegradable spray like lemon juice or vinegar or orange oil. make sure these dont hurt the tree before you go all out on them. if i remember correctly the best time to spray for pests is during july-august while its the hottest. this tree is a lovely plant and once established(3-5yrs)it takes nothing but time and patience to grow. make sure you keep the seeds away from small children, they look just like candy. in most cases the seed shell is so thick and smooth that it passes thru the body without harm. however if triggered it can generate a potent toxin that i believe is semi narcotic. this plant has a bonus to being poisonous however, deer wont touch it! i doubt that livestock would be much interested in it either. this plant is supposed to be very disease resistant but has been known to catch things (like cotton rot). if you live in a colder climate it may be more inclined to sickness and pests that are resilant to its toxins. also colder wetter areas may be hard on the roots. if you do plant north of texas give it a little hill so excess water can drain away from the tree.add a layer of dark, heat absorbing material to the base of the tree, i have seen trees in cold climates with shredded tires mixed with cedar for mulch and it did an awesome job of keeping heat and excess moisture. i wouldnt worry about wrapping it up in the cold unless you get one of the sudden death defying freezes mid spring. i lived in the texas hill country for 15 yrs and it never really got cold enough to do major damage. however areas prone to ice stoms might be a problem. you could try saving a budding spring tree during a sudden freeze by using the fruit growers trick. turn on a sprinkler before the ice comes in and let it wet the tree until the ice is done. this may help keep ice crystals from shredding the cell walls. however it could send it back to sleep for a couple years as well. here again drainage is super important. try placing some pastic sheeting around the base of the tree to divert the water away from the main roots. this might also help insulate the roots. i havent tried it yet as our new trees here in oklahoma havent been started. ill update yall next spring if they survive the winter. i hope this info helps! wendy

Hi, I'm Beth. We moved to Forney about a year ago to be closer to our daughters and families. I am retired but DH is still working and travels so I have a lot of time on my hands. We bought a house with a flat acre of nothing but black clay and weeds. Last year I mainly assessed what was in the ground which as it turns out wasn't much. There were knock out roses in beds that only got three hours of sun a day and a variety of shrubs out of shape and just hanging on from lack of water. The beds and yard are in terrible shape and need a lot of amendments so this year will be spent getting the ground in shape to plant so this year will be one of container gardening. I've never worked with such terrible conditions so it is a little overwhelming. The front of the house is mainly shade facing NNE. Shade is new for me. The back will be where I will have to plant all my roses. So I'm thinking hostas and some annuals in the front for now. We have a pretty strict HOA so I am limited on what I can do in the front. I keep telling myself all in good time. Since I am starting from scratch I'd love to know more about how the swaps work and wonder if I can swap non-plant things. I have some baby roses rooting but they won't be ready for a new home for a few months yet.

Hello Everyone, Since the scope of the listing of unstoppable Texas plants was so broad, I thought I would narrow it down to just super tough plants that add fragrance to your garden! My limited personal experience only consists of a few plants, and they only produce fragrance for only a part of a season (I have parts of the year that I need to fill with fragrance)! Hopefully you all can help me expand my garden so that at least I can have something to walk by at any time of the year and have something nice to smell! Here is my listing of what I know: Lady Banks - My white one actually has some fragrance to it, although it isn't as nice of a smell as some of the other flowers, it does have fragrance. This is a springtime blooming/fragrance plant. Wisteria - Again, another super tough plant, but only blooms and has fragrance in the spring. (BWT, my 5 gal plant that I got last year seems to only produce leaves, but no flowers/fragrance! Did I get a lemon, or does it have to mature more?) Violet Lantana - I was surprised late last summer(maybe even fall?) last year when I walked by my light purple lantana and couldn't figure out where the nice smell was coming from! I had a mental block thinking that Lantanas only produced nice looking flowers! Copper Canyon Daisy - This plant actually has more of an herb fragrance when the wind blows through it, but it does produce fragrance all year (well, actually, I always cut mine back every year, and it takes a few months for it to grow back enough to have enough leaves to create fragrance!) Texas Mountain Laurel - I learned of this one from the FW BG, so I bought a couple 1 gals, but it looks like it is going to take forever for it to get big enough to bloom and produce flowers/fragrance! It is tough and evergreen, but it only seems to produce fragrance in the spring as well. Does anyone have any suggestions for fragrance the whole year round? Even having different plants with different fragrances at different times would be nice too! Here is a link that might be useful: Listing of Texas Super Tough UnStoppable Plants!