Hedging Plants – Laurel

Name – botanically known as Prunus laurocerasus Rotundifolia

Description and uses – This plant produces a very dense, fast growing, evergreen hedge with large, leathery, glossy green leaves. In spring, upright spikes of white flowers contrast well against the foliage. Laurel is a most useful hedging plant because it grows happily in shade and puts up with dry sites. Due to its all year round density laurel provides winter protection for many small mammals and garden birds - blackbirds and thrushes use them as nesting sites. For hedges four feet upwards, the big, shiny leaves are perfect for reflecting light into dark corners of the garden.

Maintenance and problems – Prune with secateurs in March, April or August – however, there is a problem in that cutting laurel with shears or hedge-trimmers can cut the leaves in half which makes them turn brown. If you have a big laurel hedge that has become far too big don't rip it out – instead, in March - cut it back to two foot stumps and it will regenerate with a vengeance giving you a wonderful thick young hedge again in two years. Laurel is shade tolerant but not suitable for seaside gardens or alkaline soil. The leaves and berries are harmful if eaten. Rotundifolia is more disease- and insect-resistant than other Prunus species, but root rot can be a problem if the shrub is planted in a wet location and the fungus botryosphaeria can cause limb dieback.

Hedging laurel photograph by blugeoner86, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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