Showing posts with label Kalmia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kalmia. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Red Mountain Laurel


Red Mountain Laurel
Kalmia latifolia
(KAL-mee-uh) (lat-ee-FOH-lee-uh)
Posted by at 6:43 AM 6 comments
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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Peppermint Mountain Laurel


Mountain Laurel
Kalmia latifolia 'Peppermint'
(KAL-mee-uh) (lat-ee-FOH-lee-uh)
Synonyms: Ivybush, Calico Bush, Spoonwood, Sheep Laurel, Lambkill, Clamoun

Today’s flower is one of the best native flowering shrubs that grows in this area. The species has a white flower and often forms thickets in areas where it is happy. ‘Peppermint’ is a cultivar and like most of the garden origin varieties it grows smaller than the wild plants.

Mountain Laurel is the state flower of both Connecticut and Pennsylvania. It generally blooms in late May and June with flowers that can last two to three weeks if the conditions are good. That is nice since it kind of extends the Rhododendron and Azalea seasons, both of which it is related to. The wood is strong and grows in underground burls which are valuable for furniture and tobacco pipes. Mountain Laurel seems to grow in sun or shade here and likes moisture. I have found that it does not do well in foundation plantings or too much shade. It is very difficult to transplant native plants but we have done it before.

When I first started gardening there were virtually no cultivars available and now there are many ranging from striped, banded and almost completely red ones. Most of the cultivar development has been done by Connecticut plantsman Richard Jaynes. His book, Kalmia: Mountain Laurel and Related Species, is one of my favorite plant books and is a must for anyone wanting to know more about Mountain Laurel. Mr. Jaynes now runs Broken Arrow Nurseries in Hamden, Connecticut. It is a nice nursery with a lot of rare and unusual treasures. Mr. Jaynes is usually there and will talk plants with you. The nursery is doing some mail order now but in the past I have always picked up things.


Here is a link to a page with a lot of cultivars:
Mountain Laurel Cultivars
For more flowers from around the world check out Today’s Flowers.
It starts at 6pm GMT.
Posted by at 9:25 AM 23 comments
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Sunday, June 08, 2008

Climbing Rose ‘Royal Gold’ and some Work Gardens

Climbing Rose ‘Royal Gold’
Rosa ‘Royal Gold’
Breeder: Dr. Dennison Morey, United States (1957)
Height: 10 feet
Parentage: Goldilocks, Cl. × Lydia (hybrid tea, Robinson, 1949)
Hardy to USDA Zone 6

‘Royal Gold’ is a beautiful colored climbing rose that is named perfectly. It is such a deep yellow. It also has strong fragrance. This rose has actually been trained into a pillar type, which is a first for me. So far so good.

I picked ‘Royal Gold’ because I wanted this to be a home grown post. I have decided to include a couple of garden pictures from work. You will see why they are not posted very often. I am a lousy landscape photographer and don’t seem to be getting any better. Compressing the photos to fit in this space doesn't help, either. Here a few snapshots from some of the gardens this week.

The Estate’s Mountain Laurels (Kalmia) are blooming right now. This is one of the best patches but there are many others spread throughout the garden. This picture was taken looking out from inside the garage. The Mountain Laurel goes on for about 20 more feet outside of the frame. It is funny because this is definitely one of the hottest parts of the garden. The sun is really strong here and the Mountain Laurel thrives. It makes me think that people often plant Mountain Laurel in too much shade. If you look over to the bottom right side you can see my little patch of Blue Star (Amsonia tabernaemontana) that has been growing strong for 20 years. I have never divided it and it still comes up every year. Please excuse the Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus). I shouldn’t be growing it since it invasive. There is actually a little waterfall and pond that it is growing in. It is cut down completely after it is done flowering. I am going to straighten that bird house tomorrow :lol:


These next two are a different house. I liked the combination in the first one. Both of these were taken with my point and shoot (Nikon Coolpix 8400) but I actually use the manual controls on it. I am going to try and post some more garden photos tomorrow.


Posted by at 6:14 AM 4 comments
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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

ABC Wednesday - Kousa Dogwood


ABC Wednesday - K
Kousa Dogwood
Cornus kousa ‘Ed Mezitt’

Oriental or Japanese Dogwood is one of my favorite trees. Not only is it beautiful it has almost none of the cultural problems associated with our native Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida. There are many cultivars of Kousa each with it special attributes but all have wonderful flowers, unusual fruit, exfoliating bark and good fall color. There seems to a little confusion on some of the cultivars as they maybe from the same gene pool.

This particular cultivar, ‘Ed Mezitt’, is named after the founder of Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton, Mass. The flowers are a little bigger than the species and the new growth emerges with a purplish tinge to it. It is a stately tree that grows with a beautiful shape. I have had one in the Estate’s Kousa collection since 1995 and it was fairly large to begin with. Pink Kousa Dogwood was the very first flower picture featured on Digital Flower Pictures.com.


The fruit of the Kousa Dogwood is a show onto itself. It is edible but I find it both the taste and texture to be unpalatable. The birds seem to relish it and by the end of fall it is usually all gone. Here is a picture that I took last fall of some Kousa berries .


This plant is a garden type of a native flowering shrub called Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia). Banded Mountain Laurel is quite a treat to have in the garden. It is fairly easy to grow if it is sited right. I think a lot of people give Mountain Laurel too much shade and are disappointed by the results. It can take several hours of strong light, especially the cultivars.

Here is the ABC Wednesday Blogroll. The participation in ABC has grown so much that I am sure I don’t have everyone. If you want to get on this Blogroll please leave a comment and I will add you. For a more complete list of ABC blogs head over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s Place, which is the first link.

Here is the ABC Blogroll:

Posted by at 7:17 AM 25 comments
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