In the wild, mountain laurels form close, tangled thickets frequently covering hillsides. The shiny evergreen leaves give the hillside a slick look. From a distance, these "laurel slicks" are a dramatic beautiful green; in bloom, they are breath-taking.

But a close encounter with a laurel thicket is entirely a different matter. The wood is tough and resilient; even dead branches do not break. Pushing through a laurel thicket is all but impossible; the trunks and branches rebound—vigorously! One emerges battered and bruised. Early settlers called these thickets "laurel hells". From personal experience, I concur. "Laurel slick" or "laurel hell" is all a matter of perspective.

Mountain laurel blooms in late spring. The flowers are borne in corymbs at the ends of the branches. The buds are usually very pale pink with the flowers opening white, but every so often, a mountain laurel has darker pink or rose-colored flowers. Various mountain laurels have been selected and propagated; the cultivars are available through nursery trade.

The mountain laurel has a remarkable flower. The five petals are fused into an 'umbrella'. Each petal has two protuberances forming a ring of ten around the bud. When the flower is open, the protuberances are indentions and red on the inside. The anthers of the ten stamens are tucked into the red dimples; the filaments (stalks) of the stamens are under tension. When a bee lands on the flower the filaments snap like elastic, the anther pops free of its dimple, and the bee is slapped with a load of pollen for the next flower she will visit.

(Compiled from: An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, N.L. Britton and A. Brown, Dover Publications, 1970; Gray's Manual of Botany, M.L. Fernald, Dioscorides Press, 1987; and "Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia L.)", Catharine Tucker and Nancy Arrington, 1994 Virginia Wildflower of the Year, published to the internet by the Virginia Native Plant Society, 1997.)

Native Plant Societies are fun, informative groups. Local chapters usually offer everything from hikes in parks and interesting speakers to gardening tips and plant raffles. If you are interested in gardening to preserve a bit of the wild, attracting birds and butterflies, or simply to learn more about the natural areas of your state, I highly recommend joining a native plant society. To find a native group in your area, click on the link: http://www.nanps.org/associations/frame.shtml