Winter hardiness
Moderately winter hardy
Pruning
Twice a year
Growth rate
40-60 cm per year
Laurel is one of the most popular varieties of hedge plants. It has vibrant and glossy large leaves that provide excellent screening, and its quick growth rates means that you can create a compact hedge quickly.
These plants are easy to grow, easy to maintain, highly tolerant and have wildlife interest. Known for being a hardy hedging plant, laurel thrives in most conditions and takes hard pruning and shaping well.
One of the main advantages of growing a laurel hedge is that it requires very little care and will maintain their evergreen color throughout the year. There are three species of Laurel and they all make wonderful hedges. They include:
Prunus Laurocerasus Rotundifolia: This variety has a bushy growth habit, boasting large, attractive polished green leaves throughout the year. In spring, the plant produces creamy-white flowers that attract bees, followed by small, red fruits that turn black in autumn and are fed on by birds. It provides a constantly changing seasonal interest, making a beautiful decorative addition to any garden
Prunus Laurocerasus Novita: This is a relatively new, improved variety of Laurel, known for being hardier than common laurel. This fast-growing evergreen hedge plant has glossy green leaves and produces white fragrant flowers in spring followed by small black berries that are not edible. It also requires very little care.
Prunus Laurocerasus Caucasica: A fast-growing evergreen shrub, Prunus Laurocerasus Caucasica is similar to Cherry laurel but has a more distinct upright habit. This is the perfect hedge plant for any gardener who loves the reliability of cherry laurel but has either little space or wants to grow a narrower hedge. The plant is also tough and grows easily in free-draining soil. It’s however not suitable for coastal regions.
Growing a laurel hedge is easy, and provided the planting conditions are favorable, you will have a compact hedge in no time.
Laurel is a popular evergreen hedge plant because it is tolerant to most types of soils. Its quick growth rate and vibrant green leaves make it a great choice for creating a relatively quick hedge. Known for being evergreen, Laurel provides all year round privacy and winter protection for birds and small mammals.
Laurel has amazing features, no wonder its one of the most popular hedge plants particularly in the U.K. Here are the advantages of growing a laurel hedge:
The best time for planting your laurel hedge is in fall. The plant prefers full sun or partial shade as a hedge, privacy screen or as a backdrop to other plants.
It grows in any reasonable soil that’s not waterlogged. It’s also excellent on clay. The plant can tolerate pollution and dry sites, making it suitable for areas such as poor parts of your landscape with very light soil.
As mentioned above, growing laurel is straightforward; however, it is important that you plant correctly because this has an impact on how quickly the hedge establishes and grows. Follow these simple steps for planting laurel:
Don’t plant laurel in waterlogged soil
Plant the laurel in soils mixed with manure
Water the plant deeply during the first growing season especially when planting was done during dry summer months
As you probably know already, spacing is very important in hedging. You have to space laurel plants well to create a compact hedge. Generally, the spacing distance for laurel plants is two to three plants per meter.
The different species of laurel have different growth rates, with cherry laurel growing up to 60cm a year and Portuguese laurel up to 40cm. Since laurel is known to be a fast-growing hedging plant, without pruning, they can easily grow into a large formal tree. But a formal hedge can be achieved by pruning twice a year to maintain a neat shape.
Caring for a laurel hedge only requires a small amount of effort from your end as you only need to trim it twice a year. It is recommended to prune laurel either in late spring or early summer. When you prune at this time, new shoots will grow and cover any leaves that have been damaged or gaps in the hedge. In addition, laurel can withstand hard pruning.
For small hedges, use a Secateurs for pruning, and for large hedges, you will want to use a hedgetrimmer. Since birds use laurels as their nesting site, it is always important to check for nests when trimming your hedge.
Well, laurel hedges are not vulnerable to serious diseases, but the main problem they do face can be treated and the hedge often outgrows the disease without any treatment.
The most common problem that affect laurel hedge is powdery mildew, bacterial shothole and leaf spot fungi. All the three diseases affect the leaves, causing distortion, holes and tears the edges. These diseases often develop in autumn and spring, in humid or damp conditions.
The symptoms of powdery mildew include:
The symptoms of bacteria shothole and spot fungi include:
These problems can be treated be treated by trimming the affected leaves lightly to encourage new, healthy growth. These diseases are minor, and although they make the plant look unattractive, laurel often outgrows the problems as new unaffected leaves emerge.
There are many advantages that come with growing a laurel as a hedge. It is one of the most popular hedging plants in the world mainly because it is easy to grow, tolerates tough growing conditions, grows faster and maintains its evergreen color throughout the year. In addition, this plant requires very little care as you only need to trim it twice a year. Most of the diseases affecting laurel may make the plant have an unattractive look, but laurel often outgrows the diseases, with new growths not being affected. It is however important to prune the affected leaves. So, it’s safe to say that this is one of the best hedging plants you can grow.