It’s not the tree pollen, or the grass growing, or the birds that stop to visit as they migrate north that tell me spring has arrived. No, I know spring is here because my beloved Texas mountain laurels are blooming. Have you ever seen a Texas mountain laurel in bloom? They’re spectacular. The trees are lovely any time of year with their shiny oval leaves, but it’s the blooms that knock you out. They grow in clusters like grapes or wisteria, and they have the most intoxicating aroma of grape jelly. Seriously. When you smell them, you immediately think of a big jar of Welch’s grape jelly. It’s heavenly. The problem is that it’s also short-lived. Those gorgeous, fruity blooms only last a week or two and they’re gone. I’m sharing them with you before it’s too late. If only we had smellavision.
Wherever you are, I wish you a warm, fragrant, lovely spring! -NanaBread
Inside NanaBread's Head 
Beautiful! I’m going to Houston Garden Ctr with friends on Saturday so I’ll be looking for this plant. Even without the blooms, it’s beautiful! Thanks for sharing (again)!!
Spring has sprung!!! Whooohoooo!
You’re going to love mountain laurels! Other than pruning them to keep their shape, they require very little attention.
Beautiful! I’ve never experienced a mountain laurel but I’d love to. My favorite flowers are the ones that smell great! It’s suppose to be 50 degrees today so maybe we’ll get a touch of spring and all the snow will melt. :)
I hope you get some warm weather soon. You guys have had a long, long winter! My favorite flowers are peonies, but we just can’t grow them down here. I guess we’re too tropical. On the up side, we can grow bananas, pineapple and citrus like nobody’s business! I wish you could have sent some of your snow our way. We would have loved it.
How Beautiful! I am jealous of your blooms in March. It will be at least mid-April before any of my bulbs start to flower. :( Enjoy your mountain laurel! I would love to have such brilliant purple blooms in my yard. I look forward to Lilacs and Cherry Blossoms up here. Gorgeous!
Ooooo…I love cherry blossoms! Have you ever seen photos of Japan and Washington D.C. when the cherry trees are blooming? Stunning. I’d love to see them some day. Down here, we have Bartlett pear trees blooming. They have beautiful little white flowers, like miniature apple blossoms. Very pretty.
Beautiful! We got all kinds of things blooming around here now. I love seeing all the flowers, don’t love the pollen, but it’s a give and take, I suppose.
Agreed. The pollen down here is ridiculous, but the blooming pear trees and all the flowers are gorgeous. You can literally walk outside and write your name in TCP’s windshield in the yellow pollen dust. It’s no wonder our eyes are itching and our noses are running. I have to say, though…I’m really digging the bright green everywhere. It’s lovely.
How can Texas have mountain laurels, when they got not mountains??? hills, yes, but mountains?? ;)
Oh, but we DO have mountains! There are 7 with peaks of more than 8,000 feet in the state of Texas. They are: Guadalupe Peak 8,749; Bush Mountain 8,631; Shumard Peak 8,615; Bartlett Peak 8,508; Mount Livermore 8,378; Hunter Peak 8,368 and El Capitan 8,085. There are a lot more under 8,000 but it’s pretty obvious that NONE of them are within 100 miles of my house. I can see downtown Houston from my neighborhood, and I’m 17 miles south. It’s crazy flat in my part of town. Lucky for me, mountain laurels don’t require mountains to grow. I wish the blooms would last so you can see them in April, but it ain’t gone happen.
I have a Mountain Laurel in my front yard (Austin) that has a few small blooms right now…it has never looked as beautiful and full as yours!
Hello, Debbie! The size of the blooms may depend on the age of the bush and the location it’s planted. Ours are at least 18 years old, and are located on the east-facing wall of our house. They get great morning sun, shade in the afternoon, and protection from too much cold in the winter. How much rain we’ve received also plays a part in how fully they bloom, like it does with our local wildflowers. Can’t wait to see those, too. You’re a few degrees colder than we are (usually), so your mou,tain laurels may just be a week or so behind mine. If you get a few more sunny days, they may pleasantly surprise you! And don’t you just L-O-V-E that grape jelly smell? It’s so awesome.