Texas Mountain Laurel Can Make a Medium High Landscape Screen

Q. I had Texas mountain laurel planted in my yard since 1998 and have not trimmed it at all; leaving it to look more shrub-like to act as a privacy screen, between the golf course and our pool.  It blooms profusely, leaving clusters of seed pods.  Would the tree benefit from having the pods removed, or is it best to leave them? Would I get more blooms if I trimmed off the pods?

Texas mountain laurel seed pods are objectionable to some and look fine to others. Prune them off if you dont like them. It will not hurt the plant.

A. Yes, the pods can be removed, and yes it makes more flowers when removed but the trigger for flowering is mostly in the early spring. Many people like the pods formed from the flowers as as well. The primary reason for removing the pods are looks; some people dont like their looks. Some do.

Texas mountain laurel with spring flowers.

            Texas mountain laurel is a Chihuahuan desert native plant so it can make a good heat tolerant 15 foot tall hedge after it is established. It would require about 2 to 4 feet of water applied under its canopy when mature. Remove only crossing branches to give it a full appearance and be careful about “limbing it up”. Let only knowledgeable landscapers prune this plant since it recovers slowly if mismanagement. Plant them no closer than about 8 feet apart. 

        They are relatively slow growing so it makes a privacy hedge that will be slow to fill empty spaces between them. Apply a fertilizer like 16-16-16 once in the early spring to get more and bigger blooms, prune it laterally so that it fills in these empty spaces faster.