Kalmia latifolia 'Tinkerbelle'

Fascinating shape on the flower

Mountain laurel is considered the most beautiful flowering shrub in the US, not hard to see why :)

I agree, i dont think we have them here at all?? it does make me wonder why?? does the plant grow the size of rhodedendrons?

Tinkerbelle is a dwarf version and only grows half the size of a typical rhododendron if that. A regular sized mountain laurel will typicall be 6 feet or 2 meters in a landscape but can grow more than twice that in the wild.
Mountain laurels are very difficult to find here too. They are hard to grow commercially because they don't grow easily from cuttings. They are as hardy as rhododendrons or hardier but more demanding with soil pH requirements.

I suppose its the difficulty of propagating thats stopping the nurseries stocking or growing them, I hope someone finds an easier method!
On the other hand it makes yours all the more special!
If they were available here they would be very popular its a really beautiful thing, i love the details in the flower

Most mountain laurels are being produced through tissue culture now, it's much more efficient. It's more difficult to set up a tissue culture lab and everything has to be very sanitary, also takes a pretty good knowledge of chemistry. A lot of commercial producers are using tissue culture now so I would think these plants would become more common soon but you never really know.

Flowers looks like small ladybird umbrellas :)

I like the flower buds, they look like candy. The flowers are very pretty, too bad they're not bigger.