Clusters of purple flowers in the spring. Four more days to spring! A quick note: those of us here in Texas understand there’s another plant that calls itself “mountain laurel.” Nevertheless, our laurel is unrelated to Kalmia latifolia, a member of the heather family, Ericaceae, whereas ours is in the pea family, Fabaceae. This yellow-bodied immature moth can strip the leaves off a Texas mountain laurel in no time flat, though the foliage almost always grows back and the plant suffers no permanent damage. While it can reach 30’ tall if given lots of water, it usually holds in the more manageable and desirable 10’ to 15’ range and gets about 10’ wide. For that reason, the shrubs are not drought tolerant, nor will they tolerate heavy wet clay. As long as you live in the right climate, growing Texas maintenance is low. First prune out any deadwood. It does not respond very well to pruning, and should be cut Once established, these drought-tolerant shrubs require little to no irrigation. Texas mountain laurel, known botanically as Sophora secundiflora, is an ornamental evergreen tree that is native to North America. The Texas Mountain Laurel (Calia secundiflora) is well-known for its pendulous clusters of purple, fragrant flowers that look as good as they smell. 0. Those at the northern limits of mountain laurel cold hardiness can develop leaf scorch. The caterpillars form loose webbing on the plants they’re decimating. Calia secundiflora, formerly Sophora secundiflora) ranges from Texas through the American Southwest and down into Mexico. Gardeners looking for a tough evergreen tree or shrub that perfumes the air each spring with a floral scent that stops traffic should consider Texas mountain laurel. Dig a hole before purchasing the tree. Dig a hole slightly bigger than the root ball, then carefully place the root ball into the hole, and backfill with planting site soil. It is also called Mescal Bean. needs full sun. Though these slow-growing plants can be kept pruned to a shrub size, most often they are allowed to mature into small treelike forms 10 feet wide and 15 feet high, multi- or single-trunked. The Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) is a Central Texas native that opens its beautiful purple blooms in February and March and intoxicates the senses. The school profile includes the school type, level, status, number of students, teachers and student-teacher ratio. Evergreen – Sun/Part Shade. Item 7100. Texas mountain laurel prefers alkaline, well-drained rocky soils, including those that contain limestone. Water Texas mountain laurel trees infrequently to prevent the soil around them from drying out completely. On Mar 22, 2004, frostweed from Josephine, Arlington, TX (Zone 8a) wrote: Texas Mountain Laurel is a beautiful large shrub or small tree. Choosing plants that grow and thrive in your particular climate is the very first step toward having a beautiful garden. The seeds will be pale pink and their shells will be relatively soft. If you’re collecting seeds, pick the pods when they’re still mostly green but just starting to turn gray. The Texas Mountain Laurel is an attractive spring-flowering small tree with glossy, evergreen leaves and beautiful purple wisteria-like blooms smelling of grape Kool-aid. Toxic mescal beans were used ritually by indigenous peoples of the Central and Southern plains tribes for their psychoactive properties. It is highly drought tolerant after getting established for a year or two and is cold tolerant to about 10°F. It produces purple flowers that have a grape jelly scent which permeates the garden. Space Texas mountain laurel saplings 10 to 12 feet apart, and water regularly during the first year so that the soil is constantly moist but never sodden. It is heat and drought tolerant and requires little maintenance once it is established. Texas mountain laurel is a tough evergreen shrub or small tree fragrant flowers and its extreme drought hardiness. I loved reading this!! She’s never met a succulent she didn’t like and gets really irritated every 3-4 years when Austin actually has a freeze cold enough to kill them. Product photo via Amazon. Texas mountain laurel makes a lovely specimen tree or shrub, which is primarily how I see them grown in Austin. Prune no more than one-third of the plant at a time. Previously known interchangeably as Sophora secundiflora and Calia secundiflora, recent phylogenetic studies have led to the reclassification of certain members of the Sophora genus into Dermatophyllum – a taxonomic synonym for Calia. What a beautiful … Mature Texas mountain laurels have a deep root system, and they do not transplant well once established. survive winters in USDA zone 7b. Vegetables. Fragrant, purple, wisteria-like flowers in … This popular plant is often used as a flowering, evergreen shrub but, with time and proper pruning, it can be trained to … Because of its toughness and its native status Texas Mountain Laurel is a native evergreen shrub that can be trained as a multi-trunked small tree. However, in spite of the name, they do not contain the hallucinogenic alkaloid mescaline, found in the peyote cactus. Texas mountain laurel grows in limestone soils in Central and Southwest Texas and to 5000 feet in the Chisos and Davis Mountains. This plant can adapt very well to desert-like or nearly desert-like environments where the water supply is inadequate. Lousy soil? If you’d like to start with seeds, you can get packets of five seeds via Amazon. native to Mexico and the American Southwest. in the Southwest, it is an excellent choice for xeriscaping heat and drought tolerant, and it actually thrives in poor conditions. mountain laurels is very easy and rewarding. You will still see Texas mountain laurel referred to as S. secundiflora or C. secundiflora in some places. This shade-loving shrub produces clusters of rose, pink, or white flowers with purple markings in late May to early June. When the brutal heat strikes, like many of us, these plants will go dormant. Positive. containing bright orange seeds that, while beautiful, are very poisonous and by David Rodriguez. This plant has several common-name aliases, including coral bean, hot bean, mescal bean, mescal bean sophora, frigolito, frijollito, frijolillo, coral bean, big-drunk bean, and colorin. However you plant your seeds, water them daily for the first couple of months, then about once a week for another year. They also do perfectly well with no fertilization, but in areas with very poor soil you can add a small amount of a balanced fertilizer such as NPK 10-10-10 in springtime. 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