The most commonly planted evergreen
hedging there is. The cherry laurel (Prunus Laurocerasus) are the classic, big
glossy leaved evergreen, seen everywhere.
One of the biggest selling points
for the Cherry Laurel is that they grow extremely fast, with about 2/3 foot of
new growth each season, making this a plant to not take lightly for a quick
instant hedge! If planting a hedge, you will soon find it nicely dense and tall.
This plant is one of our hardier
plants, the only thing that you need to keep an eye on is that they do not
enjoy is sitting in waterlogged soil. If they are sitting in waterlogged soil
you won’t see much of a difference in them except they may look a little bit
sad and drooped.
The Laurel as mentioned above is
hardy meaning that for Trimming/Pruning, you could do this multiple times a
year, with 2/3 foot of new growth each year it is almost necessary. March is a
good time of the year to look at pruning if the plant is getting too large as
being springtime it gives the plant a good chance to grow back, while trimming
can be left until a bit later in the year around June-September time. While
trimming your plant into shape try not to cut through the leaves as this can
leave the plant looking fairly unsightly!
Now, like all plants there are a
few diseases that can affect them despite being such a tough cookie! Powdery
Mildew, Leaf spot fungi and Bacterial Shothole, these are just the more common
diseases, usually these diseases leave the plant looking like it’s been
shot by a shotgun with lots of little holes in each of the leaves
and irregular edges.
For treatment of these
diseases there are special chemicals you can spray that can defend your
plant to stop infections like this happening, however once the plant has been
affected there is little that can be done to "cure" it. Laurels are
naturally hardy plants, meaning a little bit of pruning to remove the
dead/unsightly leaves can be good and neaten your hedge, however avoid any
heavy pruning as this will just place a strain on the plant and hinder its own
natural ability to fight the disease.
If wet soil is a problem, then
perhaps consider potentially a different plant (perhaps a Portuguese Laurel or
Leylandii) or you could raise the planting bed a little to keep the roots above
the water level.
In early Spring you catch the first
few glimpses of the flower buds that are soon going to flower on this plant,
the bud appears early spring and open in Summer to reveal a creamy white
petalled flower. Combined with the fruit that is produced from the plant as a
berry, coming in as bright red then changing to a black in early Autumn when
more mature, this fruit looks extremely like the very common Cherry fruit.
However, do not be fooled into
thinking that if “the fruit of this plant looks like a Cherry, so it must be
safe to eat?” This plant is toxic to humans, so even though the fruit looks
nice, do not eat it! The fruit along with the leaves and every other part of
the plant will cause severe discomfort if ingested. (not something to be
enjoyed in a salad!)
The plant as I have already
mentioned grows at 2/3 foot per season and has an ultimate height of around 8
meters tall or in the best conditions up to 15 meters! Now that is a monster
hedge and will certainly keep out unwanted eyes! But that is in the absolute
perfect conditions that most average gardens may not be able to achieve. Given
enough time in most soils and gardens your plant will still reach large heights,
more than enough to be a great screen!
If you are reading this far then
you will already mostly know what you are looking to do with your Laurel
hedging be it setting up a new hedge or using it as a specimen plant, however
if you are going to use this as a hedge then you should know the sizes/amounts
you will need.
On our website beside every single
one of our plants is a handy description of that plant along with a guide on
roughly how many plants you will be needing for your area, it’s extremely easy
for the non-gardening individual to put together a plan on making the garden
green!
Thank you very much for reading and
if you have any questions regarding the plants on our website or any general
questions regarding Laurel Hedging including diagnosing your laurels if you
suspect anything is going awry, I will be glad to answer them!
Best Wishes
Zachary Henshaw – zach@grasslands.co.uk
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