Mastering mountain laurel

I was marveling at the beauty of the 'Tinkerbell' Kalmias as I left for work the other day and wondering why I never hear anyone talking about these shrubs. But then I glanced over at my other kalmia, a 'Sarah,' and answered my own question.

While both of my 'Tinkerbells' are covered with those unique pink buds and gorgeous blooms, 'Sarah' is a sight of a different kind. A gift from my daughter -- who made a four-hour trip with the shrub sitting next to her on the passenger seat of her Honda Civic -- I planted 'Sarah' about five years ago. She was already budding when I got her, and that first year she bloomed well and put on modest new growth. The second year, 'Sarah' bloomed but not as abundantly and had very little new growth. The third year, she dropped about half of her leaves and never put forth any new ones. The fourth year I moved her to a spot I thought she might enjoy more (more shade, more acidic soil) and 'Sarah' did bloom again, but it was hard to appreciate the flowers when she had so much 'leg' showing.

This year? Nothing. No new growth. No new buds.

I will probably end up pruning 'Sarah' pretty hard, just to see what happens. (She really can't look much worse at this point.) And besides, one of the 'Tinkerbells' survived a pretty drastic clipping (my husband inadvertently 'pruned' it with the snow shovel last winter) and, like I said, it's doing well. Maybe some tough love is in order.