Q: I have had two mountain laurel bushes for 15 years . Suddenly last fall, one dropped its leaves. The stems were green and it is starting to bloom and add some new leaves. The other bush had some white places, not sure if there was an aphid attack, I did not notice a lot of this white on the bad plant.
A: Texas mountain laurel (Calia secundiflora) are fairly tough plants and have only a few minor insect problems that may cause limited defoliation or distortion from feeding.
Losing all the leaves as you describe is likely some sort of environmental stress. Consider what irrigation your plants receive since that is a limiting factor for most plants. Dropping leaves and blossoms is a normal reaction to lack of water. Leaves are where water vapor leaves a plant so to reduce the amount of water escaping; the plant may drop its leaves. It’s good to see the leaves are growing back. It’s possible the plant will grow much better with all the rain we’ve had along with continued irrigation through the warmer months.
Peter L. Warren is the Forest Health Program Coordinator for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. Questions, photos and videos may be emailed to tucsongardensage@gmail.com
