Deezines Flowers & Gifts

09/22/2023

You don't want to miss the upcoming supermoon because we won't get another chance to see another one until next year.

08/26/2023

Only 6 days left to vote!

07/04/2021

Enjoy the holiday and be safe as you celebrate this 4th of July!

06/29/2021

Enjoy the PA state flower in my absence. We will be CLOSED this Wednesday, June 30th. Our little Boston Terrier Raymond will have surgery to help him breathe and the first 24 hours following are vital to his recovery.

06/27/2021

Wedding bouquets

06/24/2021

Don't miss the sweetest 🍓🍯 full moon of the year, and also the last supermoon of the year...happening tonight! 🌕🔭

06/12/2021

Take a drive on the local country roads and appreciate the beauty of this native shrub.

MOUNTAIN LAUREL: (Kalmia latifolia). We cannot let this Spring pass without a look at Pennsylvania’s State Flower and its showy flowers. This showy thicket-forming native shrub has pointed oval leaves that are shiny, leathery and evergreen. The leaves change from light green to dark green to purple as the season progresses. As the shrub matures the wood becomes twisted and gnarly.

The flower clusters are bowl-shaped and are made of many small white to pink flowers in the shape of cups. There are often purple or rose-colored markings inside. Each of these flowers has five petals fused together and ten anthers that form arching spokes from the center of the flower to ten pits in the sides. Each individual flower is about one inch in diameter while the cluster can be up to six inches across. The stamens have a spring like mechanism that spreads pollen when triggered by a bee. This pollen may be spread as far as 15 cm by this mechanism. The buds have strong ribs.

The flower stems are sticky to exclude crawling insects. Moths and bees both serve as the major pollinators. The shrub can grow 13-15 feet high, though it is often smaller. Mountain laurel is found in Rocky or sandy woods from Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New England and South. It can also be found in cool meadows, balds, mountain slopes and woodland margins. It is found growing wild in most of Pennsylvania except the far northwest, but is far more common in the mountains and northern forests than at lower altitudes. It is commonly planted as an ornamental and there are cultivars that have bright red flowers.

Mountain Laurel blooms from May to July depending on location and local weather. Sometimes it will take the form of a small tree with a single short, crooked trunk. The wood has been used for tool handles or spoons, and the burls, or hard knot-like growths, for briar to***co pipes. All parts of the plant are toxic. In some places it is given the common names Calico Bush, Ivy Bush or Spoonwood. I took this photograph on May 31, 2017 on a hilltop adjacent to the Montour Trail in Allegheny County, PA.