Troubled mountain laurel.

Laura Mumme writes for help with her struggling mountain laurel. It’s about 10 years old and was in beautiful bloom this spring, but now looks terrible.

Although I can’t tell for sure from these photos, it does appear from the shape of the small branches that your tree is probably not receiving enough sun. Also, there are other plants growing around the base of your mountain laurel and the bed seems to be surrounded by a St.  Augustine lawn, both of which will increase relative humidity and thus encourage insect and microbial issues on plants that prefer a drier environment.

Without a change in the microclimate, your tree may continue to decline. To start, prune out any dead limbs and remove all of the surrounding plants to give the interior of the tree space for air to circulate.

Mountain laurels prefer full sun, so if you can prune the canopy of any trees blocking sun from above your mountain laurel, that would also help.