Lovely Mountain Laurel

Mountain Laurel, Kalmia latifolia (pronounced KAL-mee-ah lah-tih-FOH-lee-ah), is in full bloom in the Mary Snoddy garden. I tried without success to grow this beauty at my former home, where it repeatedly failed in heavy clay soil, sticky humidity, and hot temperatures. The cooler conditions here along the NC/SC border must be ideal. It would take a machete to penetrate the thickets that grow in the rocky soil around our creek. There is also a sizeable planting at the corner of the bedroom deck where I enjoy my morning coffee. The bumblebees visiting flowers were so plentiful this morning that it sounded like a small engine humming.

All part of Mountain Laurel are toxic to humans and animals, especially goats and sheep. (Foraging deer, however, are unharmed.) Bees are not harmed by the pollen but, per Wildflower.org, if one eats honey made with a high percentage of nectar from Mountain Laurels, you can become quite sick (nausea, dizziness, sweating, low blood pressure and numerous other potential unpleasant side effects). On a different internet site, I saw information on “Mad Honey” which is dark red and slightly bitter. Mad Honey is sourced from Laurels and Rhododendrons in Turkey and Nepal, and causes hallucinations similar to LSD or magic mushrooms, but can also cause a slow heartbeat or loss of consciousness. (I always wonder what kind of person volunteers to test something that can either give you a smashing high or kill you.) According to AtlasObscura.com, Pompey The Great’s army was destroyed  in 69 B.C. when sneaky locals placed Mad Honey along their marching route, waiting until the soldiers were honey-drunk, then swooped in to massacre them. Read the article here.

Because bees visit so many different types of flowers to obtain nectar and pollen, the honey we purchase is a blend from many sources. Concentrations of Mountain Laurel toxins are highly unlikely unless you are purchasing honey from a beekeeper with few hives and many Laurel plants.

It is fascinating to watch bees visit Mountain Laurel flowers. Flowers occur in clusters as the tips of branches, Buds are star-shaped lanterns tinged with pink. They open to white, five-petal flowers. The anthers are held in a tiny pocket in the petals. When a bee (usually a bumblebee) visits, the anther springs up to shower the visitor with pollen. The process has been compared to a child’s pea-shooter. Bees complete cross-pollination when they visit other flowers.

Mountain Laurel in full bloom.

Kalmias grow in poor, acidic soil. These evergreens prefer partial shade but will tolerate full sun or mostly shade. The growth rate is slow. In an area with fertile soil and plentiful water, they may reach heights of twenty feet or more, but six-feet is most common. On young plants, the bark is smooth, reddish-brown. Older trees have cracked bark that sheds in strands. Limbs and branches are gnarly and crooked, looking like they belong in the Evil Forest of fairy tales.  Native Americans made spoons from the wood of Mountain Laurel, giving rise to a common name, “Spoonwood.” Because of the wood’s strength and durability, it was later used in the creation of weavers’ spindles and tool handles.

There are numerous varieties for sales in nurseries. Some of these (‘Elf’ and ‘Minuet’) are dwarf; others feature greater heat tolerance.

Closeup view of Mountain Laurel Flowers

The gnarly limb structure of mature Mountain Laurels.

Sweep Into Spring with Scotch Broom

The beautiful red and yellow flowers of Cytisus scoparius ‘Burkwoodii’

“Scotch Broom,” the common name for Cytisus, doesn’t conjure up images of splendor. It makes one think of Cinderella, sitting fireside and sweeping up embers. But when any genus has 27 species, 10 hybrids, and 10 named cultivars, it’s significant. In spring, the bright yellow blooms of common Scotch Broom light up waste areas and unmanicured roadsides. When not in bloom, the shrub is gangly, with a weeping habit and teeny tiny leaves clinging to angular green stems that resemble (in my mind) skinny green Twizzler candy. Some plants are evergreen (stems, usually) but most lose their leaves in winter. The shrub appears to be dead. In spring and in flower, it is one of Nature’s masterpieces.

Cytisus flowers resemble sweet peas or beans, to which family it belongs. Seed pods look like tiny black snow peas. Ripe pods burst with a pop and send seeds flying, giving rise to lots of offspring; brooms are listed as invasive in several states. If you don’t want the extras, pull them while they are small. The beautiful flowers ARE NOT EDIBLE. Leaves, stems are seeds are extremely toxic, and consumption can lead to death. Deer pass this one by.

Scotch Brooms are tough plants. They are hardy in zones 5-8. They thrive in full sun and heat, and ignore drought. While most are butter yellow, forms are also available in pale yellows, reds, pinks, and bi-colors. Cytisus scoparius 'Burkwoodii' put on quite a show in the Mary Snoddy garden, with gorgeous red/yellow bicolor blooms. In two years, however, it zoomed up to six feet tall and spent half the year looking like a collection of dead sticks. I pruned it severely (okay, I cut it off at ground level), and it promptly died. I decided to enjoy it in other peoples’ gardens thereafter. The weeping habit and frequent one-sidedness give it good potential for training to a trellis where it can be paired with an annual vine to conceal its post-bloom appearance.

'Burkwoodii' first year

Pea-like flowers

'Sister Redhead'

Seed pods

Prima Donna Pieris

Pieris japonica (pronounced pee-AIR-iss jah-PON-ih-kah) is a lovely evergreen shrub with a multitude of white bell -shaped blooms held in clusters in late winter to early spring. Flowers are occasionally pink-tinged. New growth is a bronzy red and young stems are yellow-green. Old bloom stems remain attached to the mother plant unless removed.

Pieris is not the easiest of shrubs to grow. It is a member of the heather family (“ericaceous”), which means it enjoys similar conditions as heath, azalea and rhododendron. Plants are hardy in zones 5-8. In the south, Pieris needs partial shade and consistently moist (not wet) acidic soil with plentiful organic matter. It must be shielded from winter winds.

It is easy to overlook that slow-growing Pieris, commonly called Andromeda or Fetterbush, can reach heights of twelve feet or more and up to eight feet wide. Unfortunately, they are prone to numerous problems, including leaf spots, lace bugs, scale, nematodes, and unexplained dieback. Both flowers and leaves are extremely poisonous to humans, cats, dogs, and horses. On the positive side, it is somewhat deer resistant.

Numerous cultivars are available.

Pieris blooms stand out against leathery, dark green leaves.

Castor Beans

If you love the look of tropical plants but don’t have the climate for them, consider growing Castor Bean, a plant with dinner-plate sized leaves.

Ricinis communis has gained negative attention in the past because the seeds can be processed (don’t ask me how) to produce the deadly poison Ricin. The word ricinis is Latin for tick, and that is exactly what the seeds look like – big, overblown dog ticks. Seeds should be started where you want the plants to grow, since they do not transplant easily.  I allow them to mature and drop seeds in the Mary Snoddy garden, and love that they pop up in random places.

They are heat lovers and grow rapidly to 8 feet or more. Thomas Jefferson grew a prize specimen that topped 22 feet. Castor bean blooms and seeds are not particularly decorative. Grow them for their bold, deeply palmate leaves. Some cultivars have an attractive red tint to the foliage. The stems resemble bamboo a bit.  They are annuals in my Zone 7 garden, but can be perennial in warmer zones.

The leaves and seeds are toxic if ingested. The plants contain two separate poisons. The most lethal of these poisons is contained in the seed. Two seeds, chewed and swallowed, can kill a person. This is the same plant whose seeds can be processed to remove the ricin (again, don’t ask me how) to produce the nasty-tasting Castor Oil that was given to ailing children many years ago. I think this archaic practice has fallen off the radar. If you remember it from your childhood and wonder about your parents’ wisdom in dosing you with it, well, consider that maybe you weren’t their favorite kid.

Please don’t grow these if you have young children or pets that like to chew on plants. Several years ago, I was experiencing devastation from deer that were visiting my vegetable garden every night. I planted a moat of Castor Beans as a protective hedge, hoping to repel the deer or at least make them sick enough to leave my garden alone. The voracious herd at New Hope Farm ate the leaves off the plants but didn’t touch the seeds. I have since installed an electric fence to protect the food garden. Folklore says that they repel voles and moles, but my personal experience does not support that theory.

Castor Beans die at the first freeze. The large plants require a mattock and labor to remove the dead stems and roots, but I think it is well worth the effort.