I planted one about 7 or 8 years ago when it was about 2 feet tall. It's now about 5 feet tall. They grow extremely slowly and so it costs a pretty penny to buy the taller ones.

Mine bloomed for the first time last year. I imagine that besides age, it would also depend on the soil/light/location, etc.

It smells so sweet and is so beautiful. Worth the wait!

They really seem to bloom better in the sun. Mine get more blooms on the side that is in the sun all day.

I bought 2 5 gallon ones 2 years ago and planted them in the furthest reaches of my yard. Where I do not water and they get full on hardcore blazing sun most of the day. They've bloomed every year and I am not sure why but I love it. Maybe under a tree was not the best choice for them, they do seem to like the heat!

I saw (& smelled) them blooming up against a building--I'm sure they were in shade--when I first moved to TX, and decided I had to have some. When I read that they're understory trees in the wild, I figured they'd surely be okay in the shade.

Oh well...I may try moving one to a sunny spot next fall and see what happens.

Thanks all!

Have you checked the height it will reach at maturity? Planted under an oak might create a problem in time.
Xtal

The nearest branches above these are 20-30 feet up. At the rate they're growing, their height shouldn't be a problem. At least not for the next 50 years or so!

You might not want to transplant them. They have a long tap root and will most likely not survive. This is the reason they are so expensive.
At my previous house I had them as understory and out in the sun. The amount of blooms on the one in the sun was a tad more, but not enough to consider moving them.
Two of the 3 were bought and one from seed.
The bloom spike for next spring should be growing now. There is a moth that lays it's eggs on TML. These larva eat the bloom/bud/spike.

The Mountain Laurel caterpillars, Uresiphita reversalis or Sophora worms, come with the new growth so they seem to be present as long as the plant is actively growing. They can be easily controlled with one of the Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) products. This is sold as BioWorm Killer, Thuricide, Dipel or such. Also Ortho's product Orthene will kill the caterpillars on contact. .

Here is a link that might be useful: TX Mtn Laurel

Thanks for the info, plantmaven. No worms on any of mine yet ...only aphids, at times. Guess I'll just have to be patient re their blooming.

I had always seen ML in landscaped yards, often in full sun. But one day I was visiting someone's home who lived on the water out at Lake Travis who left much of their landscape wild and I was surprised to discover many ML there as understory (they received dappled sun). So I suppose they aren't all that fussy about their location once established, but it sounds like it does effect the timing and number of blooms somewhat. After seeing that I planted mine in part sun at the edge of (surrounded by) some oaks. As I said, it took awhile to bloom and grow but now it's beautiful and full of blooms and seed pods.

They do take a while to mature enough to flower, but if you bought these, they should be old enough. You'll be able to see the flower spikes around Christmas/New Year's and they tolerate freezes then, but the closer you get to March, the less they tolerate a freeze. If you do get a late freeze, it will easily kill all the flower buds. The only other thing I can think of is they didn't get enough water or they got too much water at some point in the cycle. You might try to keep an eye on other MLs around you and see if there's a difference.

I use to run a hunting lease in west Texas and they grew in very rocky ground and were never under anything but sure were nice looking trees. This is the area where even Jack Rabbits pack a lunch. Only snowed there once many years ago when San Antonio got 18 inches but it sure didn't bother the Mountain Laurel.

I have one that is probably around 10 years old (gosh - just can't remember exactly when I planted it) planted on the South side of the house. It has been blooming for as long as I can remember. Here it is in March of this year:

treelover, I should think yours should be blooming real soon.

Lynn

Very pretty, Lynn! I just love that shade of purple.

My husband and I planted 11 one-gallon Texas mountain laurels in October of 2007, then ranging in height from 18-24". Three are in blazing hot full sun, three are in pretty much full shade, and five are part sun/part shade.

As I recall, four of them bloomed just a little the first spring (2008)--one of those in sun, one in shade and two in partial sun. This year, at least seven of them bloomed (two in sun, two in shade and three in partial sun)--some with quite a few flowers.

Other than one in full sun having quite a few problems (which its also full-sun neighbor three feet over doesn't have), most of them are 3-4' tall and 18-24" wide. One is 5' tall and 3' wide.

So I kind of think there is something up with yours being in the ground for three years and not blooming yet. Are you watering them too much? They really don't need much water at all. Except for the fact that we're in the middle of a drought here in San Antonio, we only water when they look like they need it.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the good info, patriotizm.

I supposed it's possible mine are getting more water than they want. They're near the edge of a lawn that gets watered once in a while and I'm sure they catch the overspray. It's in shade, though, so I don't water it often. Even when I go around hand watering things, I've never watered these MLs as they've never looked like they needed it.