Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) - pink flowers, illustrated plant card

Illustration

Mountain Laurel

Kalmia latifolia

Also called calico bush, spoonwood, ivy bush, mountain ivy and american laurel

Also comes in white.

Mountain Laurel blooms from May through June.

Design a garden with this →Shop mountain laurel at Plant Addicts(paid link)

Bloom calendar

Bloom time

May–Jun

checked

Hardiness

Zones 5–9

checked

Sun

Part shade

checked

Water

Moderate water

checked

Mature size

9 ft × 8.5 ft

checked

Type

Shrub

house classification

Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.

Plant it in part shade. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 5–9. Expect it to reach about 9 ft tall and 8.5 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 5 years (a house reading).

No toxicity note is on file for Mountain Laurel. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.

Verification

Full record checked

What was checked

Mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and the trait tags were checked against named botanical sources for this plant, with what the sources could not settle written down; years to mature size rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one, and is marked so; its common name and alternate names have not been checked yet. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.

See the 9 sources it was checked against

When to plant Mountain Laurel

Plant Mountain Laurel in early spring as soon as the soil is workable, or in early fall at least six weeks before your first frost, so roots establish in cool weather. In zone 7, the middle of its hardy zones 5 to 9, spring means March to May and fall means September or October. Once settled, it blooms from May to June.

Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 7, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 7 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.

How big does Mountain Laurel get?

Illustration of Mountain Laurel drawn to scale beside an adult — About 9 ft tall and 8.5 ft wide at maturity: half again as tall as an adult.

See Mountain Laurel in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.

How far apart to plant Mountain Laurel

Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.

Give Mountain Laurel about 8.5 ft of clear ground in every direction, measured from its center. It is one plant with room around it, not a row, and a raised bed is too small for it.

Clear ground around it

8.5 ft in every direction

Add Mountain Laurel to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.

Where these facts come from

Mountain Laurel's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, trait tags, soil, diseases, pests and toxicity were checked against 9 published sources on September 23, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources.

Missouri Botanical GardenPlant Finderheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, trait tags, soil, diseases, pests and toxicity
NC State ExtensionGardener Plant Toolboxheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, trait tags, soil, diseases, pests and toxicity
plantdatabase.uconn.eduUniversity of Connecticut Plant Databaseheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, trait tags, soil, diseases and pests
woodyplants.cals.cornell.eduCornell University Woody Plants Databaseheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, soil, diseases, pests and toxicity
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower CenterUniversity of Texas at Austinheight, sun, water, bloom months and color, soil, pests and toxicity
plantfinder.nativeplanttrust.orgNative Plant Trust Garden Plant Finderheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and pests
Penn State Extensionheight and bloom months and color
ASPCAAnimal Poison Control Centertoxicity
ASPCAAnimal Poison Control Centertoxicity