Kalmia latifolia ‘Elf’
Garden Plant Information

Kalmia latifolia Elf

 

Kalmia latifolia Elf - close-up

 

Name

Kalmia latifolia ‘Elf’ (also called Calico bush and Mountain Laurel)

Genus  

Kalmia

Species

latifolia

Cultivar/variety

‘Elf’

General description

Evergreen summer flowering shrub, grown for clusters of unusual pink flowers which look like the sugar sweeties that you used to get on biscuits. Attractive to bees.

Season of interest

Flowers in summer.

Key horticultural features

  1. Habit - little lax in habit at first but becoming more tidy with age. H: 2.5m, S: 2m

  2. Leaves - deep green glossy leaves are around 5cm long and less than half that wide. They grow in rosettes.

  3. Stems - rigid but will droop as more growth grows on the branches, eventually making the branches hang. Young growth is pinkish, greening with age.

  4. Flowers - borne in clusters at the end of pink stems, the buds are pink and sugary-looking a bit like little Chinese lanterns. The open flowers are a paler pink and saucer-shaped.

Cultural details

Aspect

Sun or semi shade.

Soil

Needs moist, peaty, acid soil.

Hardiness

Hardy.

Maintenance

Very little required. Remove dead blooms after flowering. Slow to rejuvenate if cut back hard

Propagation

By seed in autumn or softwood cuttings in summer. Can be layered but this takes up to 18 months.