Stop Replanting Every Year—This Compact Evergreen Shrub Blooms Again Season After Season

There are lots of attractive annuals that brighten up gardens with their spring-blooming flowers. But if you want to add color to your space without the hassle of planting new flowers each spring, there’s an easier way.

In this guide, you’ll discover a must-have spring blooming evergreen shrub that’s low maintenance, great for pollinators, and perfect for native gardens, mixed plantings, and shady spaces—plus tips on how to keep this plant happy for years to come.

Why You’ll Never Have to Replace a Mountain Laurel

Azaleas and rhododendrons are always popular garden picks, but if you’re looking for a unique plant that will reward you with flowers year after year, the mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is hard to beat.

Native to eastern North America, wild mountain laurel plants grow en masse along woodland margins, rivers and streambanks, and sloping hillsides. They’re also right at home in garden beds, and have lots to recommend them.

Aesthetics

Wild mountain laurels delight with clusters of umbrella-shaped flowers that typically appear in April to May and linger through June.

Native mountain laurel flowers are usually white to pink in color, but cultivated varieties can take on darker hues and cultivars like ‘Peppermint’ even feature colorful striping.

Growing between 4 and 15-feet tall, mountain laurel plants make ideal foundation shrubs; however, dwarf varieties, like ‘Elf’ and ‘Tinkerbell,’ can also be kept in roomy and well-draining pots.

Aside from their colorful flowers, mountain laurels also keep gardens colorful with their dark green leaves, which stay on the plant all winter long.

Best of all, mountain laurels have a naturally compact and rounded form, which rarely needs pruning.

Care

Hardy from zones 5 through 9, mountain laurel grows wild from Maine to Florida. Established plants tolerate cold, heat, and drought well.

Suitable for native plant, woodland, or cottage gardens, mountain laurels grow in a range of spaces and can live for over 70 years as long as you keep their basic care guidelines in mind.

Soil

Like closely related azaleas and blueberries, mountain laurels prefer slightly acidic soil with a pH of around 5.0 to 5.5. Soils that are rich and consistently moist are best for these plants. They’ll grow even better if you enrich beds with compost before planting and then cover the plant’s roots with mulch for moisture retention.

After planting, mountain laurels need little care but they flower more abundantly if you feed them with a slow release fertilizer intended for acid-loving plants once a year when new growth starts in spring.

Light

Although mountain laurels can tolerate full sun, they’re much happier in dappled shade. These plants naturally grow as understory shrubs and can be planted in the partial shade of taller trees like oaks and pines.

Water

Newly planted mountain laurels should be watered regularly during their first season of growth to keep the soil evenly moist and help the plant’s roots establish.

After that, mountain laurels are relatively drought-tolerant and only need to be watered during extended periods of dry weather.

Trimming

Mountain laurels naturally retain a mounded growth habit and generally don’t require pruning. Just snip away dead, damaged, or diseased branches to keep these shrubs looking trim.

5 Companion Plants

Mountain laurels grow best with other woodland plants that thrive in acidic soil and light shade. For a garden bed that looks full and colorful in any season, try pairing mountain laurels with some of these companion plants.

• Native ferns. Christmas ferns and many other native ferns prefer the same basic growing conditions as mountain laurels. These plants can be tucked in around the base of mountain laurels to fill in empty space and keep weeds from intruding.
• Azaleas and rhododendrons. Mountain laurels, azaleas, and rhododendrons are closely related plants that all grow well in dappled light and acidic soil. For a more complex arrangement, try stacking dwarf azaleas in front of taller mountain laurels and select plants with coordinating flower colors.
• Wintergreen. A native, groundcovering plant, wintergreen grows well in light shade and can be planted beneath taller mountain laurels for extra color. Aside from wintergreen’s deep dark leaves, these plants draw the eye with their bright red berries, which emerge in fall and last through winter if birds don’t get to them.
• Solomon’s seal. Another woodland plant, Solomon’s seal is known for its graceful arching stems and downward facing flowers that last from late spring to early summer. These plants look particularly appealing when grown in groups of 3 or more and can stretch up to 6-feet tall.
• Blueberries. If you want to add more function to your garden, you can also grow mountain laurels with blueberries and harvest your own berries when they ripen. Blueberries also grow well in acidic soil and shorter, lowbush blueberries can be used as a groundcover around taller mountain laurel plants to give gardens a more layered look.