[Journal entry for June 20, 2018; Mountain Laurel in bloom at Spring Pond, Harriman State Park, New York] Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is a tall (six to eight feet) broadleaved evergreen shrub with tangled woods stems that grows in impenetrable (at least to me!) thickets in Harriman Park. It especially favors rocky hillsides beneath trees and around the shores of ponds. It blooms with pink to white flowers in mid June.

I went hunting for a nice display of the flowers, and found some nicely lit up by the late afternoon sun on the east shore of Spring Pond, a small impoundment just east of Kanawauke Circle. I parked at the Lake Kanawauke lot, and passed many other blooming wildflowers as I walked Route 106 over to Spring Pond. I then bushwhacked around this small pond, stopping along my route to explore the many thickets of Mountain Laurel.

The pond is heavily colonized with Water Lily. Beaver have cleared several pathways through it, splaying out from their lodge on the lakeshore. Numerous Green Frogs inhabit the grass at the water’s edge and hop away as I approach. Pumpkinseed Sunfish swim in the shallows.

The Mountain Laurel blooms are very beautiful, even though I judge them to be a little past their peak. Each bush is covered with hundreds of clusters, each contain a hundred or so cup-shaped blooms. Most of the bushes bear pink flowers, but a few are white.

I spend about an hour working my way around the shore, and then return to my car.