The mountain laurel(Kalmia latifolia ) , also call American bay wreath , originate wild in flaxen or rocky woodlands throughout the easterly United States . They sometimes grow wild in yards within U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 9 , but cultivars are available at garden center field . This evergreen bush grows between 5 and 30 foot tall . It normally blooms in May , featuring large clusters of five - sided pink or clean blossoms . Overgrown laurels become long-legged with no leafage at the base of the plant , and gain from renovation pruning to encourage novel , hefty growth .

Step 1

fertilise the bay wreath well in late fall before pruning in late wintertime of the undermentioned year ; well - fecundate plants recover best from voiceless pruning . Skip this step if the laurel grows in fertile grease and is likely healthy . No chemical plant food is ask . skim back any leaves or mulch from around the groundwork and circularize a 1- to 2 - column inch layer of ruined compost or cottonseed repast over the ground . This layer will expel nutrients slow into the basis to fee the roots .

Step 2

Wash the blades of all pruning tools , and disinfect them in a 10 percent result of chlorine blanching agent diluted at a rate of 1 part bleach to nine parts water . apply bypass pruners to snub branches up to 1/2 column inch in diameter , clip shear to hack branches up to 1 1/2 inch in diam , and a pruning saw to cut tumid arm .

Step 3

Remove one - third of the total branch in late wintertime around February or early March . bring down the branches to within 6 to 12 inches of the ground ; this severe , renovation pruning encourages newfangled branches to grow from the alkali . murder all rugged , diseased and all in Sir Henry Joseph Wood first , then move on to the aged forest if needed , until you have remove one - third of the branch . Use sever shears or a pruning saw , depending on the thickness of the branches .

Step 4

Apply fertilizer again in late descent , one year after the first plant food program .

Step 5

curve another one - third of the old laurel branch to within 6 to 12 in of the undercoat . Start with the drained , diseased and disordered branches . take away the old branches , as well as any rubbing or crossing branches . Continue pruning branches selectively until you have absent another one - third of the honest-to-god outgrowth , leaving the terminal one - third on the laurel to be removed the next year .

Step 6

Apply the finished compost or cottonseed meal fertiliser again in late fall , two years after the first plant food program .

Step 7

Remove the remaining one - third of the old laurel branches to within 6 to 12 column inch of the ground . The flora should have some newfangled branches now , but it can take some plants up to five years to recover from renovation pruning .

Step 8

Deadhead laurel flowers as they melt each year to prevent the industrial plant from going to seed and to extend the blooming menstruation . you’re able to use bypass pruner to cut behind the flower clusters , or tear them off with your fingers .

Step 9

Prune back the baksheesh of long branch to control the superlative and shape of the mickle laurel bush . hold back until the end of the blooming full point , usually in June , to cut back the branches . Make an angled cut of meat just above a leaf jell or node on the subdivision . off no more than one - third of the entire ramification length each year .

Tip

You should be able to hold the size of your mount laurel well by crop the tips each twelvemonth after the Arthur Stanley Jefferson Laurel develop back from the overhaul pruning . If it again becomes leggy and overgrown , repeat the three - year renovation pruning cycle per second to regrow the plant .

If you have a particularly healthy laurel wreath plant and very fertile soil , you might be able to cut the entire plant back in one year rather than unfold it out over three years . However , some plants never go back from this severe pruning , while others can take up to five years to reclaim , and appear stagnant in the meantime .

Things Needed

References

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