Growing the Volcano Cherry Laurel

Size and Appearance

The Volcano Cherry Laurel is a rounded evergreen shrub, densely branched and bushy. It grows at a moderate pace, adding 12 to 18 inches of new growth each year when young, so it won’t be long before it tops-out at around 6 feet or so, with a spread of 4 to 5 feet – the perfect dense bush for screening and hedges. The leaves are leathery and glossy, 3½ by 1½ inches – that’s a lot smaller than most cherry laurel, completely in scale with the smaller size of this bush. The edges of young leaves have distinct serrations, which soften as the leaves mature. The smooth surface and oval shape is always attractive and green year-round. At least, except for spring, when this shrub surprises us with bold, red and orange new leaves. When still tiny the leaves are bronzy-red, turning a golden-orange with red edges as they expand, before finally turning dark green. This shrub really puts on a great spring show – and again every time you trim it.

After a few years untrimmed bushes will flower in late spring, producing upright ‘candles’ of tiny white flowers. These are about 4 inches long, and mostly produced on untrimmed plants – regular trimming will usually keep them away. These flower clusters are followed by clusters of round berries, first green and later black, giving interest in late summer and fall. Although called ‘cherry’, these berries are not edible – although birds love them. It is worth noting that all parts of this bush can be toxic, although cases of poisoning are rare. Don’t plant where horse or livestock can reach it.

Using the Volcano Cherry Laurel in Your Garden

The perfect filler for your beds, the Volcano Cherry Laurel is guaranteed to give you ‘bushy and green’ wherever you need it in your garden. Grow it around your house as part of the foundation planting – it’s invaluable. Fill the corners of your beds with visual ‘anchors’ that give an air of stability and maturity to your garden. Grow it as a low to medium-sized hedge – trimmed or not – for a boundary or internal divisions in your yard. Plant it as year-round screening from the road or privacy from neighbors. It is also great for planter boxes (zone 7 and warmer) when you want bulk and density – you can plant trailing flowering plants around it for a lush look.

Hardiness

Reliably hardy from zone 6 into zone 9, the Volcano Cherry Laurel is a winner across all but the coldest parts of the country.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

This versatile shrub will grow well in just about all light conditions, from full sun to light full shade. Avoid planting directly beneath large, heavy evergreen trees – everywhere else is not a problem. This means your hedges can pass from sun to shade and still look great, without scorching or thinning out. The Volcano Cherry Laurel is also one of the most reliable shrubs for poor soil conditions, including new urban gardens and construction soil. As long as it isn’t always wet and boggy, all soils are easily tolerated. You always need to water new plants regularly, but once well-established you will find this shrub one of the most drought-resistant plants in your garden. It is also salt tolerant, so it’s great for coastal gardens, and will take some highway salt spray as well.

Maintenance and Pruning

As well as being unattractive to deer, the Volcano Cherry Laurel is almost never bothered by pests or diseases – this is one tough and reliable bush. It is easy to prune any time after the new leaves mature a little into early fall. You can trim as often as you want, and if you need to prune hard, even back to bare branches, that’s fine too. Before you know it new shoots will have grown out and rebuilt the bush all over again. The smaller leaves mean this bush is easier to trim with power trimmers without leaving a lot of unsightly cut leaf edges.

History and Origin of the Volcano Cherry Laurel

The Cherry laurel, Prunus laurocerasus, can be found growing wild in Turkey, Iran and all around the Black Sea. Wild plants have large leaves and grow into small trees, even reaching 50 feet. It has been grown in European gardens for centuries, and came over to America with the early settlers. Over time smaller varieties have been created to suit our gardens better, and the variety called ‘Jong1’ was found by Cornelis Henricus Maria de Jong at the Hooghoutplantat nursery in Biezenmortel, the Netherlands. In 2006 he collected seeds from several plants of cherry laurel, and among the seedlings he found a very compact plant, with striking red new leaves. After testing and evaluation he patented it in 2018, and it quickly gained the common name Volcano Cherry Laurel from it’s bright eruption of red new leaves.

Buying the Volcano Cherry Laurel at the Tree Center

We feel this is the best selection available for a smaller cherry laurel, with the bonus of those great red new leaves. If you have been scared off by the cherry laurel monster in the past, go for this one – the only thing that isn’t volcanic is the size! The demand for compact evergreens is huge, so order now – this is one shrub we know won’t be with us for long.

In every garden, there is a need for tough, reliable plants that can be trimmed and pruned into screens, hedges, barriers, and backdrops to other plants. When that plant is also very shade tolerant, drought and heat resistant, has an excellent display of spring blooms, and carries handsome, durable, evergreen foliage, then it is sure to be a worthwhile plant to grow. The Cherry Laurel is widely grown for this purpose, but few gardeners realize that instead of growing that alien species, there is a wonderful native American equivalent available. That plant, the Carolina Cherry Laurel, is just as worthy of a place in the garden as its European equivalent, and the variety known as Centre Court Cherry Laurel, is a very superior selection, with prolific flowering and vigorous growth. Put it at the top of your list for durable evergreens for all shady or sunny parts of the garden.

Appearance

The Centre Court Cherry Laurel is a fast-growing bush, ultimately reaching 30 feet in height and 15 feet across. It is a more upright tree than the wild bush, which is often as wide as it is tall. Growing as much as 3 feet each year, it will only take 10 to 15 years to reach that size, making this a great tree for quick screening and developing larger hedges. If you have an unattractive view to hide, highway noise to reduce, or hot, dry winds to shelter from, then a barrier of the Centre Court Cherry Laurel will quickly create it for you. This plant can be pruned and trimmed as needed, and no matter how hard you trim, even back to a few bare branches, it will quickly re-sprout and grow as you want it to. 

The Centre Court Cherry Laurel has glossy evergreen foliage, with narrow, ellipse-shaped leaves 2 to 3 inches long. They are light green, so this plant stands out well in shade. If you crush a leaf its smells like maraschino cherries, which makes some people call it the ‘Dr. Pepper’ tree. The growth is naturally dense, and when trimmed it becomes even denser, so any screen is absolutely solid.  If you trim your plants regularly they will rarely flower, but if you only trim once a year, then in late winter or early spring you will be rewarded with bunches of sweetly-scented creamy-white flowers. These clusters are 2 or 3 inches long, and form among the upper leaves of the plant. Butterflies and bees love them, and this plant is important as a food plant for many native species of butterflies – another good reason to choose it over the European cherry laurel. As the flowers fade they turn into clusters of small ½ inch berries, which begin green and then become black by late summer and fall. These berries are bitter, and certainly not edible, but birds of all kinds, from songbirds to wild turkeys, love them, and they are a valuable fall and winter food for your local bird populations. 

Growing Centre Court Cherry Laurel Shrubs

The Centre Court Cherry Laurel grows well in full sun, in partial shade, and in full shade too, as long as it is not very dark, such as beneath large evergreen trees. This means that it can be grown successfully in most parts of your garden. It is much more heat and drought resistant (once established) than the regular cherry laurel, making it ideal for hot regions, and for poor soil that is often dry. It grows well in all kinds of soil, from sand to clay, and either acidic or alkaline – it doesn’t matter to this tough tree. It doesn’t suffer from pests or diseases, if the soil is well-drained. Trimming can be done at any time of year. If you want flowers, but not berries, trim as the flowers are fading, and if you don’t trim again that year, you should have a good crop of flowers every spring – and no berries.

History and Origins of Centre Court Cherry Laurels

The Centre Court Cherry Laurel is a selected, improved form of the Carolina cherry laurel, Prunus caroliniana. Different from the English laurel, (Prunus laurocerasus), often also called ‘cherry laurel’, both these plants are surprise relatives of cherry, peach, and apricot trees. The Carolina Cherry Laurel is found growing wild in the south-east, from North Carolina to Florida, and into Texas. The variety correctly called ‘GRECCT’ was developed and selected by Greenleaf Nursery Company, and it is sold with the trademarked name of Centre Court as part of Greenleaf’s Garden Debut® collection. Our plants are grown to the highest standard, and they are guaranteed to be this improved selection of the Carolina cherry laurel, recommended by no less than the eminent garden authority, Michael Dirr in his encyclopedic The Tree Book. The demand for this great plant is huge, and our stock will soon be gone, so place your order right away.

The Dwarf Carolina Cherry Laurel is an upright shrub or small tree, that grows 10 to 12 feet tall and 4 to 6 feet across, although it can easily be trimmed to a smaller size. It can be grown as a bushy shrub, a hedge, or trained up on a short trunk to make a small tree when it can grow to be 20 feet tall. It has lots of attractive features, starting with the handsome, glossy evergreen foliage. The leaves are narrow and elliptical, with wavy edges. They are light green and 2 to 3 inches long. They grow densely on the stems, and when trimmed this plant responds well by producing lots of bushy shoots, which is great for making dense hedges, cones or other trimmed shapes. 

Plants that are not trimmed too often flower in late winter and early spring, with attractive, scented flowers. These are small and creamy-white, clustered in bunches 2 to 3 inches long at the base of the upper leaves. These are very attractive to bees and butterflies, and this plant is a valuable food for many native insects, including swallowtails, azures, and viceroys. The flowers are followed by clusters of tiny, ½ inch black cherries, which are unfortunately bitter and potentially poisonous if the seed is chewed and swallowed. These too are important fall and winter food for songbirds, quail and wild turkeys. 

Growing Dwarf Carolina Cherry Laurels Shrubs

There are three basic ways to use the Dwarf Carolina Cherry Laurel in your garden. If you are looking for a tough, drought-resistant evergreen for a screen, a hedge, or as clipped specimens in the garden or large planters – you have found it. If you want easy background shrubs to plant at the back of larger beds, behind more colorful shrubs – this is the plant you want. If you want to add interest and food for native butterflies and birds to the margins of wooded areas, on in a natural garden, using an American native tree – it easy, plant this one. 

Grow the Dwarf Carolina Cherry Laurel in full sun, partial shade and even in full shade – it is very adaptable to a wide range of conditions. It grows well in zones 8, 9 and 10, making it very valuable in the hottest parts of the country. It grows well in almost all soils, from sand to clay, and from acidic to alkaline, just as long as it is well-drained, and not boggy. Water your tree regularly when it is first planted, but once it is established it is very drought resistant, and it also takes some exposure to salt, making it a good choice near the coast. Don’t over-water this tree, as this can cause yellowing of the leaves and root rot to develop. It is rarely bothered by pests or diseases and even deer leave it alone since the foliage is toxic. If you crush a leaf you will smell maraschino cherries or almonds, the characteristic smell of cyanide, but don’t worry, the concentration is low, and it doesn’t pose a significant threat to your family or pets. You can trim this tree at almost any time of year, although early spring is a good time, and if you trim then, just once a year, then it may flower well. Trimming after flowering also removes the fruits before they develop. There are a couple of things to consider. One is that if you plant it over a paved surface and don’t trim it, the berries can stain concrete. Wash them off with a hose when they fall, and you can easily prevent that happening. Also, in beds seedlings come up in spring. In a lawn, these will be killed with mowing, and in beds, you can simply take a string trimmer and cut them down – once over will quickly do the trick.

History and Origins of Dwarf Carolina Cherry Laurels

The Dwarf Carolina Cherry Laurel is a selected dwarf form of the native Carolina cherry laurel, Prunus caroliniana. This tree is related to, but different from, the English laurel, (Prunus laurocerasus), which is also often called ‘cherry laurel’. These evergreen trees may not look like it, but they are true cherry trees, related to both the edible and flowering cherry, and peaches, apricots, and almonds. The Carolina Cherry Laurel grows naturally all through lower parts of the south-east, from North Carolina to Florida, and west into central Texas. The wild tree grows to be 25 feet tall or more, and almost as wide. The dwarf form, known as ‘Compacta’, probably originated as an unusual seedling, but its exact origins have been lost. Our trees are grown from stem cuttings, not seed, making them uniform, which is necessary for the best hedges. Order now, because this versatile and useful plant is always in high demand.

The Chestnut Hill Cherry Laurel develops into a compact bush, as wide as it is tall, and growing steadily to around 4 feet tall and wide. The leaves are glossier than we see on many other cherry laurel bushes, and their rich green color really gives this plant great substance in your garden. The leaves are just 3 inches long and 1 inch wide, and they are oval, with a smooth edge and a smooth, glossy surface. This gives the plant a much more compact look, without the coarse, ‘large-leaf’ look of many other varieties of cherry-laurel. The leaves are close together on the stems, giving great natural density to this plant, even without trimming. Flowering is rare, and only occurs on older plants. When plants do flower, it happens in spring, from April to early May, and the flowers are small, creamy-white, fragrant, and bunched in groups of 20 to 25 on a short, 2-inch-long cluster. This plant remains lush and green all year round.

The solid permanence of the foliage of the Chestnut Hill Cherry Laurel makes it an ideal choice for the stable planting elements in your garden. Use it alone or in groups around your home – it will never grow too tall and need trimming, just so that you see out of your windows. It is a great choice for planting in groups to fill areas of the garden with simple plants for low-maintenance. For group planting, space plants 2 to 3 feet apart. This is the perfect choice for planting as an edging along a drive or walkway, or at the foot of a fence. Even without clipping it will always be neat and dense. For borders and low hedges space plants 18 inches to 24 inches apart, in a row. You can clip at any time, and because of the smaller leaves you will not have the typical problem when trimming cherry laurel of cut, brown edges on the foliage.

The Chestnut Hill Cherry Laurel will grow from zone 6 into all the hottest zones. This tough plant thrives in both sun and partial shade, even into darker areas, such as the north side of buildings, or beneath deciduous trees. It grows in any soil that is not constantly wet, and once established it is very drought resistant, and very tough. In the early years, water regularly and fertilize in spring with an evergreen fertilizer, but older plants will simply take care of themselves, and shrug off hot dry conditions easily. This variety has been proven to be more resistant to disease than most other cherry laurel varieties, and it rarely suffers from any pests. Overall, this great plant is tough and reliable, and it needs nothing much from you, once established.

The Chestnut Hill Cherry Laurel has an interesting history. The cherry laurel, Prunus laurocerasus, (also called English Laurel), has been grown in gardens for hundreds of years. It grows naturally around the Black Sea, in Turkey, Greece, and in Iran. Most garden plants have been developed from earlier forms growing in gardens, but in 1991 botanists from the University of Pennsylvania collected seed from wild cherry laurel trees growing in Greece. Anthony Aiello and Rochelle Dillard grew the seeds and studied the young plants, which were a new genetic stock compared to trees already in nurseries. One seedling was very different, with small leaves, compact growth and disease resistance. They selected that tree and called it ‘Chestnut Hill’. In 2014 the University was granted a patent on the plant, and it has now been made available to gardeners. Our trees are grown from stem pieces directly descended from that original plant, and genetically identical to it.

Cherry laurel are always useful in the garden, and the Chestnut Hill Cherry Laurel is a great new addition to the range of plants available, and perfect for small spaces. We know the demand will be high, so order now, while our limited stock of young plants is still available – they will be gone soon.

Growing Purple Leaf Sandcherries

The Purple Leaf Sand Cherry is a medium-sized shrub that can also be trained into a small tree. It’s leaves, which are oval, with a serrated but soft edge, are about 2 inches long and a beautiful reddish-purple color. This striking color is seen as soon as the new leaves emerge in spring, and they hold that color throughout the summer and into fall.

Often in fall the leaves turn a brighter red. This ability to hold color through the summer makes this plant especially desirable, since many other plants with colored leaves turn greenish in summer, and begin to blend into the background of the other green plants around them. In spring, as the new leaves emerge, clusters of attractive flowers form, white with a blush of pink to the petals. These are about ½ inch across, but the clusters contain many flowers. They make a charming display, contrasting with the vibrant color of the newly-emerging leaves.

But wait, there’s more! This plant will grow happily in areas with winter temperatures that plunge to a bone-chilling minus 50 degrees – yes, that is right. No matter how cold it is in winter where you live, you can enjoy this lovely plant in your garden, and its beautiful foliage will brighten your garden from spring to fall with no effort from you. Of course, you don’t have to live in such areas to enjoy this plant, as it will also grow well in all but the hottest parts of the country.

Size and Appearance

The Purple Leaf Sand Cherry grows to between 6 and 10 feet tall, and it can be up to 8 feet wide (although usually it is only 5 or 6 feet wide). In very cold areas it will not reach full size, but still grow to around 6 feet tall. It will naturally make an open, upright shrub, with attractive stems with chestnut-brown peeling bark. With a little pruning, it can be encouraged to be bushy and denser, or it can be trained up with one or two stems into a small tree-form.

Uses on Your Property

You can plant your Purple Leaf Sandcherry against a light-colored wall of your house or other buildings, or place it among other shrubs for a cheerful color contrast. It can also be planted in a row, spacing the plants 3 or 4 feet apart, to make a vibrant boundary marker, or to fill a long, narrow area of your garden. Wherever you plant it, and however you use it, you will love this easy-care and rugged plant.

Planting Location

When scoping out a spot to plant your Purple Leaf Sand Cherry, choose a sunny area to encourage the maximum leaf color and sturdy growth. It will also grow in partial shade, but with less intense coloring. It will grow well in all kinds of soil, as long as they are well-drained, and it also tolerates urban conditions well. This, and its modest size, make it an ideal plant for smaller urban gardens.

History and Origins of the Purple Leaf Sandcherry

The Purple Leaf Sand Cherry is over 100 years old, and still going strong in gardens across the country. It was developed at South Dakota State University by Dr. Niels Ebbesen Hansen, a famous horticulturist and plant-breeder. There is today a monument at the University to Dr. Hansen for his work in breeding cold-hardy fruits and agricultural crops. He produced this plant as an ornamental, by crossing the low-growing native American sand cherry (Prunus pumila) and a purple leaf form of the European Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera ‘Atropurpurea’), a medium-sized tree. The resulting purple leaf shrub was introduced in 1910.

Adding Purple Leaf Sandcherries to Your Property

The Purple Leaf Sand Cherry is a mainstay of gardens in cold areas, and with its rich foliage color it should be grown in warmer areas too. All of our plants have been carefully preserved by taking cuttings from accurately identified plants. Cheap seedling plants will never resemble this unique plant, in color, size or hardiness. We have a good supply of these top-quality plants, but our stocks are limited, so order now to enjoy this favorite plant of knowledgeable gardeners. If you like this plant, we encourage you to browse our full range of Cherry Laurels for more varieties and colors.

Privacy is a valuable thing in every garden, but it can be hard to achieve quickly when you need it. It is especially difficult to find tough, fast-growing plants that will tolerate shade and dryness while still producing a dense hedge. If you need a plant like that, the Skip Cherry Laurel is the ideal tree for just those situations. You can grow a ten-foot hedge in four years from planting, with fertilizer and regular watering.

As the hedge matures, it will become so solid that nothing can get through. Yet this tree needs very little attention once established. It will grow in full-sun or shade, tolerate drought, has no pests or diseases and needs no special care at all. The more you trim it the denser and more beautiful it will become. Tall or short, rounded or square, it is easy to create hedges of all shapes and sizes with Skip Laurel.

As well as making great hedges, this is an excellent choice for foundation planting around your property, as a background shrub in a larger garden, or indeed anywhere you want rounded or upright shrubs – clipped or unclipped – to give your garden that mature, traditional look. If you leave it to grow without clipping, your plant will grow into a rounded tree perhaps 18 feet tall and 10 to 20 feet across, making an attractive background plant in a large garden.

In most gardens however, its main value is in making hedges and screens, which it does with speed and ease. Because this selected variety of Cherry Laurel has much smaller leaves than common forms of the same plant, it makes a much neater, more compact hedge than the original form, while still growing vigorously to any size needed.

Skip Laurel will easily grow 2 feet a year. If left untrimmed it will reach 10 to 18 feet in height, so it is easy to achieve a hedge of almost any size. Yet it can also be maintained at just a few feet tall for years and years. It has glossy dark-green leaves that always look lush and healthy. This is such a tough plant that even if you just push it into the ground and forget it, it will thrive and do well.

Growing Location for Skip Laurels

Plants that thrive in both sun and shade are hard to find. Yet most gardens have many shady areas and the garden boundaries, where hedges are most needed, are often in the shade beneath trees. Skip Laurel is an outstanding plant exactly because it does thrive in all light levels, without yellowing in the sun, or growing weak in the shade. If part of your hedge is shaded, it will be just as strong as the part in the sun. You won’t have to look at hedges with thin, straggly areas wherever there is some shade. In full sun, in partial shade, or even in complete shade, you can be sure this plant will do its job for you.

Because it is resistant to air pollution and dust too, this is a great tree for those tough, urban conditions found in town gardens. With its dense growth, it also makes a terrific noise and dust barrier, so for screening in urban areas it is hard to beat.

Skip Laurel Hardiness

Skip Laurel is well known for its hardiness. Other varieties of Laurel will brown in winter, with those lovely glossy leaves turning brown and ugly. If you live in cooler areas, such as zone 6, be careful to choose this variety for your garden. In those areas it will always go through the winter without browning, coming into the spring looking as healthy and fresh as it did in fall.

Not only is this tree hardy right down to minus 10 degrees, it thrives in much warmer areas, all the way through zone 9. It doesn’t matter if you live in a hot, dry area, or a hot, humid area, this plant will flourish in your garden and be a great addition, wherever you live. Even if you live in warmer parts of zone 5, this tree will grow well, with perhaps just a few brown leaves from winter, which will be replaced quickly by new spring growth.

Skip Laurel Specs

Soil Type

Laurel grows well in all kinds of soil, from sandy soils to clay. The only thing it does not like is soil that is often wet or flooded. It also grows well in both acid and alkaline soils, so for almost every garden, this is an ideal plant that will adapt to whatever you have to offer it.

Soil conditions

Skip Laurel will grow in almost any soil, and it tolerates poor soils, clay and urban air-pollution. However to produce a strong healthy hedge in the quickest time add organic material like compost, peat-moss or rotted manure to the soil when planting and give plenty of water during the first few years. Once established and grown to a suitable height this plant will tolerate and even thrive on total neglect, never needing watering or fertilizing at all.

Drought Resistance

Dryness is always a problem in the garden, so it is nice to meet a tree that doesn’t care. Laurel is very hardy and looks great after weeks of heat and drought – so you can save your time for something more useful.

You should always give water to any new plants in your garden, and Skip Laurel is no exception. For the first growing season or two, water weekly during hot weather. Once established, things will be different, and your plants will take care of themselves, staying fresh and green even during long and dry periods. We do suggest that while you are growing your screens and hedges you water and fertilize them, as that will give you the strongest and fastest growth. However, once they are tall and dense, they will take extended periods of drought without any problem at all.

Pests and Diseases

Another great thing about this tree is that pests and diseases don’t bother it at all. Even under stress, it stays healthy, so you will not see nasty pests spoiling the look of your trees. Even if you live in an area with deer, you will be fine, because deer know this tree is poisonous, and they stay right away from it.

More About the Schipka Cherry Laurel

The Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), also called English laurel, grows naturally around the Black Sea, as well as in Turkey and in Iran. The wild tree is usually a large shrub, but it can grow into a tall tree, even rarely over 50 feet tall. It has large, thick glossy leaves that are evergreen, so it looks attractive all year round. These oblong-shaped leaves are up to 6 inches long (only 4 inches long in the Skip Laurel) and up to 2 inches across.

Attractive clusters of white flowers appear in spring, like upright candles, up to 5 inches long. These flower clusters are rarely produced on plants grown for hedges, but they are a spring feature on unclipped plants. Clusters of black, cherry-like fruits follow the flowers. Despite its name, the black ‘cherry’ fruits should not be eaten by humans, although birds love them. The leaves are also toxic, so do not use this plant for a hedge if livestock can reach it.

Introduced into gardens across Europe hundreds of years ago, and brought to America by the settlers, cherry laurel has proved it worth in gardens for many, many years. The Skip Laurel, however, is not from those original introductions. This unique tree was found growing wild near the Shipka Pass in Bulgaria, and introduced into European gardens about 1886.

Once its virtues were noticed it was brought to America in the 20^th century, where it has become a hedging standard. Unlike the wild tree, which has very large leaves, this hardy form, with its smaller leaves and rapid growth, is much easier to prune, and so very much more desirable and suitable for gardens than other varieties.

Finding the Right Cherry Laurel

When it comes to Cherry Laurel, there are many different kinds available. In colder areas, for smaller gardens, for easy to maintain screens and hedges, there is just one ‘best choice’ – the Skip Laurel. This specially selected form cannot be grown from seed, so avoid cheaper plants, which are often seedlings of unknown origin and uncertain growth.

Our trees are grown by experts – from trees directly derived from that original plant – so you know you are getting exactly what you want. Because every plant is identical, your hedge or screen will be perfectly uniform with no variations in color, leaf shape or vigor. It always pays to get the best.

Making the Perfect Screen or Hedge

Skip Laurel is the ideal choice for a privacy screen or hedge, in sun or shade. Left alone to grow naturally, or clipped a little or a lot, this is a very responsive plant, and it can be cut as hard as necessary. Unlike many conifers (needle-trees) which will not re-sprout from bare wood, if your laurel trees become too large, you can cut them right back to the trunks and they will re-sprout quickly. So even if you neglect them for several years, they will not be lost. You can quickly reduce them in size and start again.

Using Skip Laurels as an Informal Barrier or Screen

Often we need a big thick screen to block out an ugly view, give us privacy, or block noise, dirt and drifting snow. Laurel is the ideal choice. It grows rapidly in sun or shade and had a graceful form when left unclipped. To create a privacy screen, plant your trees between 3 and 10 feet apart, depending on how quickly you need screening, and how dense you want it to be.

Planted closely your trees will fill in and give you a solid barrier in just a few short years. Planted further apart they will do the same in time – it just takes longer. Laurel naturally grows much wider than it does tall, so a wider spacing is an economical way to go.

Using Skip Laurels as a Formal Hedge

If you want a neat hedge you can trim into shape, plant your trees 3 to 4 feet apart for a hedge that will quickly provide privacy. For an extra dense hedge that is perfect for also screening out noise and dust, plant a double row. Space the rows 3 feet apart and the plants 4 to 6 feet apart, staggering them to form a zigzag. This will grow into a thick, impenetrable hedge that guarantees you absolute peace and privacy.

To make the perfect hedge, the best way is to dig a trench, using a tight string to keep it straight. After preparing the soil as described below, make your trench twice as wide as the pots and just a little deeper. Then line up your plants in the trench, adjusting the spacing so that they are all exactly the same distance apart, and in a straight line. For the first and last plants, space them half your chosen planting distance from where you want the hedge to begin and end. This little bit of extra work will give you the perfect hedge, so take a few moments longer to get it 100% right.

Planting Your Skip Laurel

You can plant these trees at any time of year, as long as the ground is not frozen. Because they are grown in pots there is no shock on planting and your new trees will be happy to be in their new home.

It always pays to prepare the soil well for planting, even with such a tough and hardy plant as this. Dig or till an area 2 to 3 feet wide, in a row where you are planting your hedge, or in circles for wider spacing or a single specimen. Dig the soil from 8 to 12 inches deep. Add some organic material. Anything will do, from garden compost to rotted manure or peat moss. Remove large stones but leave smaller ones – they do no harm to your plants.

Once you have prepared the soil, soak the plants in their pots the evening before planting. Dig a trench or individual holes in your prepared ground, and place the plants in the trench. Adjust the spacing until everything is as you want it, and now you are ready to plant.

Remove the plants from the pots and place them back in the holes. Push back about two-thirds of the planting soil, firming it down around the roots as you go. Once you have that soil back, flood the holes with water, filling them to the top. After the water has drained away, put back the rest of the soil. Additional watering at this time is not necessary except during very dry weather.

Caring for Skip Laurels

This low care plant is easy to grow and needs very little attention to thrive in any garden. Here are some basic tips to help make that job even easier.

Watering

Water your new trees once or twice a week for the first few weeks, until they have established and started to send out new growth. Water thoroughly once a week, or every two weeks during cooler weather, for the first growing season. After that, watering will help speed the growth of your trees, but it is not necessary at all, unless you have a very long period of heat and drought.

Mulching

Putting mulch around your trees will help conserve water and keep down weeds. Use a 2 to 3 inch thick layer, spread over the root zone, but keep it a few inches away from the trunk. Renew the mulch in spring if necessary, simply covering up the old mulch without digging it into the ground.

Fertilizing

Regular feeding with fertilizer suitable for evergreen trees and hedges will give you the quickest growth and the strongest plants. This will make a big difference during the early years, and give you the strongest plants and the fastest growth. Mature plants only need occasional feeding. Use granular or slow-release formulations and follow the manufacturer’s directions. Do not overfeed. Spring and late summer are usually the best times to feed your plants.

Pruning and Trimming Skip Laurels

Laurel is easily pruned or trimmed, because it will re-sprout, even from thick, bare branches. You can trim your trees anytime between spring and mid-fall, but try not to stimulate new growth in late-fall, to protect your trees from possible cold damage on soft new growth.

Young trees are best if pruned with pruners, rather than hedge trimmers, to avoid cutting the leaves. Later you can change to regular trimmers to save time. For an informal screen you do not need to prune while young at all, but for a hedge it is important to trim early, so that you develop a dense hedge that is not too wide. The best way to do this is to trim lightly but often, to produce plants with many small branches.

Trimming Skip Laurel Screens

Trim screens once a year if necessary, especially if you want foliage right to the ground. Laurel spread sideways and this shades the lower parts, so that a tree-like form eventually develops. To prevent this, trim the upper branches back so that the lower branches continue to receive light and remain strong and vigorous. If you live where there is a lot of snow in winter, trimming will also keep the plants dense and not likely to break under the weight of the snow.

Trimming Skip Laurel Hedges

Hedges should be trimmed two or three times a year, starting when your plants are still young. Trim the upper growth more than the bottom, so that your hedge leans inwards slightly. This will allow the light to reach the lower parts, and keep your hedge lush and thick right to the ground. Keep the top of your hedge thin to prevent thick snow building up.

Order the Perfect Skip Laurel Today

Our trees are true to the original form of this superb laurel variety, and we have a wide range of sizes to give you the best plant for your purpose. We are constantly renewing our stock so our customers get fresh, healthy plants, but demand is high, so supplies of this tree may be limited. To avoid disappointment order now.

The Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel will grow in sun or partial shade, in almost any kind of soil and it looks attractive all year round with no input from you. Not only that, it has attractive spikes of fragrant white flowers in spring, adding to the floral abundance of that season. It is an ideal choice for planting around your home, along with other foundation plants, to create all-year structure and form to show off your home to its best.

It also mixes well with other shrubs in a garden bed of any size. Planted in groups it is an ideal background plant for filling those shady corners of the garden, leaving the sunny areas for more colorful flowering plants.

Growing Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel

The Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel is a fast-growing shrub that will quickly from an attractive broad, dense plant that is always glossy green and healthy in every season. Because it does not grow too tall, it is ideal for a low hedge along a driveway for example, or as a low barrier, clipped or unclipped, between one part of the garden and another. This way you can bring structure and form to your garden, without blocking attractive views, interfering with other plants, or throwing too much shade onto your beds. As a plant that is useful all over the garden, there is hardly a property, big or small, that cannot use this plant effectively.

Hardiness

The Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel is hardy in zones 6 to 9, so it will grow throughout the south, west and most of the east of America. It does especially well in warmer areas, where it should be planted in shade, rather than in full sun. This plant is very tough and will grow in almost any soil, tolerating poor soils, clay and urban air-pollution without any trouble at all. It is also tolerant of salt-spray, so in coastal areas it will grow well even in view of the sea. Those places often have dry, sandy soil too, and that will not be a problem once your plants are well established.

Location

Unlike many other hedge-plants, the Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel will grow strongly in both sun and partial shade. This means that even if part of your hedge is shaded, it will be just as lush and strong as the other parts growing in the sun. The value of this plant for those dark corners of the garden cannot be overstated. This really is a truly shade-tolerant plant.

Many plants that grow well in shady places have dark, dull foliage, so they disappear in the shadows and have very little visual impact. Not this plant. The glossy foliage is light-green, so these two features make it really stand out, even in dim light, lifting and brightening exactly those spots in your garden that need it most.

Deer Resistance

Deer are often a problem in gardens, especially in rural areas, but also in cities and suburbs. These animals may be cute, but they can devastate your garden when looking for food in the winter. The Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel will not have this problem, since deer sense the toxic nature of the plant, and avoid it. The most that might happen is a nibble to check it out, but after that they will leave. No need for repellent sprays, or expensive fencing.

Soil Conditions

Garden soils come in all kinds; from loose, sandy soil to heavy, dense clay – and everything in between. Some soils are acidic and other alkaline. It really doesn’t matter to the Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel – it is happy to grow in just about any kind of soil. The only thing it does not like is soil that is constantly flooded or saturated with water.

Some shady corners can also be wet, so if that describes the spot you are thinking off, build a low mound, 6 to 8 inches tall, and 3 feet across, where you want to plant. Remove the soil for the mound from around the spot, making a low ditch. This will raise the area and make it drain, so that your plant will be happy, and probably never need watering either.

Watering and Drought Resistance

You should keep all new plants well-watered, so that they establish well, and are able to grow vigorously. We want their roots to spread wide and deep, so that when drought comes, they will survive. If you do this for the first year, or perhaps two, after that these tough plants will take drought and heat with no problem, thriving under difficult conditions and always looking fresh and green. That glossy leaf-coating is a natural waterproofing, that keeps the moisture inside the leaves, so the plant can survive extended dry periods.

Pests and Diseases

The good news here is that this plant rarely suffers from any of the pests that can plague other garden plants. It is tough, and pests and diseases stay away. You will not have to be spraying, or seeing your plant damaged by pests, or dying of diseases. It will grow well with no significant care from you, after that initial period of watering.

More About the Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel

The Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel grows rapidly into a rounded shrub 3 to 4 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet across. Ultimately it may grow 6 to 10 feet tall and perhaps 8 feet across if you leave it for years completely unclipped. The glossy, evergreen leaves are just 1 inch wide, and up to 4 inches long, much smaller and more attractive than the leaves of the common cherry laurel.

In spring your plant will produce upright clusters of fluffy white flowers. These are sweetly fragrant, and this variety is renowned for its heavy flowering, unlike some other Cherry Laurel trees, which flowers poorly. So dense and attractive are the flowers, that this plant is definitely worth growing as a flowering shrub, and adding to your garden for that purpose alone. The only thing that will stop a big display of flowers is clipping several times a year. If you want to control the size, but keep the flowers, clip immediately after flowering, and then not again that year.

The black ‘cherry’ fruits which are sometimes produced after the flowers are popular with birds, but they should not be eaten by humans, as they are poisonous. As they are not particularly striking, clipping after flowering will remove them without seriously damaging the decorative qualities of this plant. The leaves are also toxic, so do not use this plant for a hedge if horses and other grazing animals can reach it.

Choosing the Right Cherry Laurel

The Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel is not just an ordinary plant. It has been specially selected for its dwarf habit and prolific flowering. Like many such plant varieties, it cannot be grown from seed, as seedlings will not resemble it at all, and their habits will be completely unpredictable.

Instead, because of its special qualities, it must be grown from stem pieces, not seeds. This takes longer, and more skill is involved, so if you see cheaper plants, they will almost certainly be seedling plants. These, and any other plants not carrying this exact name, could easily grow into enormous shrubs with large leaves, reaching perhaps 20 feet tall and the same across. They will be totally unsuitable for a small garden. It always pays to make sure you are getting the right plant.

Making the Perfect Hedge with Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel

Low hedges serve lots of useful purposes around the garden, and are often not considered. After you have surrounded your garden with a tall privacy screen, you need to separate it into areas for different purposes. Perhaps you have a vegetable garden, or a play area for your children. Perhaps you want to have a terrace separated from the rest of the garden.

Plants that will naturally grow dense, but not too tall, and that can be clipped into more formal shape is wanted, are important in raising the look of your garden to the next level. That is where this great laurel tree comes in. Much smaller than other forms, it will grow to just 3 or 4 feet tall, but dense and bushy. That is the perfect height to give a sense of enclosure and privacy, without creating a ‘wall’ you can’t see over.

Using Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel as an Informal Barrier

If you want an informal screen, needing little or no clipping, plant a row of Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel, spacing the plants 3 to 5 feet apart. At the closer spacing it will just be a few years before you have a dense screen. The wider spacing will take a year or two longer, but it too will soon fill-in. It all depends on how much of a hurry you are in.

A light trimming once a year, after the flowers fade, will keep your plants very compact and dense, while still leaving a more informal look to them, and allowing plenty of flowers to form. Whatever spacing you use, keep the distance between the plants equal, for the best look possible.

Using Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel as a Formal Hedge

If a dense, neatly-trimmed hedge is what you see looking best in your garden, then this is the perfect plant. It can be clipped and trimmed into a perfect flat surface, and the more you trim the smaller and neater the leaves will become. You can have a straight hedge, or a curved one, the choice is yours. Space the plants 3 feet apart, keeping the spacing even.

The easiest way to get it right is to dig a trench along the line where you want the hedge. Don’t forget to allow room for the width, so don’t plant right up against a fence, or too close to a walkway. Once you place the plants in the trench you can adjust the spacing, and get them perfectly in line, much more easily than with separate holes. Begin clipping as soon as the plants grow, just a little, regularly. This will develop a strong, dense structure to your hedge.

Caring for the Otto Luyken Laurel

To get the maximum rapid growth from your plants, apply water and fertilizer during the first few years, but after that this plant is extremely resistant to drought and poor soil conditions and will thrive on neglect. It has no significant pests or diseases and it is very deer resistant, so nothing is going to stop your Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel from looking healthy without needing to use sprays or dangerous chemicals.

Watering

New plants should be watered once a week, or twice a week in very hot or dry weather. This plant will grow at its quickest if it has a good supply of water and nutrition when it is young and developing. Once it is established, it is very drought resistant, so you will not need to water except during periods of extended drought. Even if they become completely dry and begin to wilt, established plants will survive and bounce right back once they receive some water.

Mulching and Fertilizing

Putting mulch around new plants is an excellent way to conserve moisture and prevent weed competition. Cover the root area with a layer 2 or 3 inches deep – no more. Be careful to keep the mulch away from the stem and foliage – leave a couple of inches around the stem free of mulch.

Young plants should be fertilized with any kind of fertilizer recommended for evergreens or hedges. Follow the directions, but usually plants are fed in early spring, and again in late summer. Feeding your plants will really make a big difference to the rate of growth, flowering and the overall health of your plants. Once your plants are established, and your hedge is fully-grown, you may not need to feed anymore, as long as the foliage is a healthy green and good growth is seen each spring.

Pruning and Trimming

The Otto luyken Cherry Laurel is very easy to trim. Young plants are best trimmed with hand pruners, rather than hedge trimmers, so that the leaves are not cut. Once your hedge begins to develop, then you can use a regular trimmer, as the leaves will now be smaller. The best times for trimming are immediately after flowering, and if you want a more formal look, it can be trimmed from late winter, throughout spring and summer, and into the early fall.

The more you trim, the thicker and denser your hedge will become. Remember to trim the sides so that they slope inwards just a little. This will keep the lowest branches vigorous and your hedge green right to the ground. If you find your plants have become too large, and you want to cut them back a lot, don’t worry, even thick, bare branches will quickly re-sprout and fill right in again.

Origins of the Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel

The Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is also called English Laurel and has been grown in gardens for hundreds of years. It is found growing naturally around the Black Sea, in Turkey and in Iran. The early settlers brought plants for their gardens from Europe, but the Otto Luyken variety was only found in 1968 at the Hesse Nursery in Weener, Hanover.

It quickly became popular across Europe and was soon brought to America, where it has proved just as popular. It received an Award of Garden Merit from the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society of England in 1993 for its compact size and abundance of flowers.

Buying Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel at The Tree Center

Because this is a special dwarf form of the common cherry laurel, it is important to obtain plants from reliable growers, and we have direct contact with top growers across the country. Despite receiving new shipments constantly, our stocks can run out, so to avoid disappointment, and miss out on growing one of the best evergreen shrubs available, order your Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel plants now and enjoy relaxed, low-maintenance gardening with this easy-care and versatile plant.

If this is what you need – and everyone needs it somewhere in their garden – then English Cherry Laurel is the tree you are looking for. It has bold, glossy leaves in a medium shade of green, that always look healthy and fresh, no matter what season it is. It will grow in all exposures from full sun to deep shade, so a hedge can pass through different conditions and yet give a uniform effect.

Unlike the full-sized laurel, this shrub does not need constant pruning to control its wild habits. The English Cherry Laurel will grow rapidly, but only to between four and six feet, the ideal size for most hedges, or for background plantings in beds. It also produces fragrant clusters of small creamy colored flowers in spring, filling the air with a sweet perfume – a bonus on an already valuable shrub.

Planting Location for Dwarf English Cherry Laurel

Almost every garden has areas of both sun and shade. Yet plants that thrive in shade are hard to find, and ones that grow well in both are even rarer. It is often exactly in the boundary areas of a garden where the most shade is, or where varying areas of sun and shade are found.

Hedges are often needed exactly where the deepest shade is. The English Cherry Laurel is a remarkable plant because it does thrive in all light levels, without the leaves yellowing in the sun, and without growing weaker in the shade. This means that if part of your hedge is in full shade, that part will grow just as strongly as the areas in the sun. In full sun, in partial shade, and even in complete shade, this plant will do its job for you.

Town gardens often have tough conditions, with air pollution and dust. You need tough plants to screen you from all that, and this is the top choice plant for just that purpose. Not only will it take poor soil and air pollution, but with its dense growth, it makes a great noise and dust barrier. For screening in urban areas, it truly is hard to beat.

Hardiness

The English Cherry Laurel is hardy all the way down to minus 10 degrees, so it will grow well throughout zone 6, bringing it within the reach of many gardeners. It also grows well in warmer areas, all the way through zone 9. Equally at home in hot, dry regions, or hot, humid ones, it will thrive.

Soil Type

English Cherry Laurel grows well in just about every soil, from very sandy ones to hard clay. The only thing it does not like is soil that is often wet or flooded. Equally, it grows well in both acid and alkaline soils. Whatever you have, the plants will quickly adapt, and grow well. For hedges and screens, ‘fussy’ plants are not what you want.

Watering and Drought Tolerance

Particularly in those areas beneath trees, dryness is a real problem, that limits the plants we can grow, and even slows the growth of shade-tolerant plants. Once established, the English Cherry Laurel will tolerate long periods of drought without difficulty. Of course, during those periods, it will grow much more slowly, so it is always beneficial to water, but if you cannot, then your plants will still look great.

Be aware that during the early years, particularly for the first growing season or two, plants should be watered each week during warm and hot parts of the year. Do not rely on natural rainfall, as this is often insufficient, especially beneath trees, which catch that water and block it from reaching the ground.

Once they are well established, things will be different, and your plants will take care of themselves – fresh and green even during long dry periods. During the period when you are growing your screens and hedges to the height you want, it is best to water and fertilize regularly, to see the strongest and fastest growth. However, once they are more mature and dense, extended periods of drought will be no problem at all.

Pests and Diseases

Nobody wants to have to spray their plants – especially in this time of environmental awareness. The good news is that the English Cherry Laurel has few (if any) pests or diseases, and none of any importance. As well, although deer can be unpredictable, they usually leave these plants alone, so that is one less problem to worry about/ Always healthy, always growing well, this tree is truly trouble-free.

More About the Dwarf English Cherry Laurel

The Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) grows naturally in Turkey, Iran and all around the Black Sea as well. The wild tree is normally a large shrub, with many trunks, but it can also grow into a tall tree. Some specimens have been found that are over 50 feet tall. The evergreen leaves are large, thick and glossy, so this plant always looks attractive the whole year round. The leaves, which are oblong in overall shape, are up to 6 inches long and up to 2 inches across. When you start trimming your plant regularly, you will see that the leaves become smaller, adding to the attraction of this plant.

Bright clusters of white flowers grow in spring, like upright candles, as much a 4 inches long. They have a sweet honey fragrance. These flower clusters will not be produced as much on plants grown for hedges, because of the regular trimming, but they are a spring feature on unclipped plants. Flowers are often followed by small black fruit that look a little like cherries and gives away that this plant, although very different looking, is actually a relative of the cherry tree. Despite its name, the black ‘cherry’ fruits should not be eaten by humans, although birds love them. The leaves are also toxic, so do not use this plant for a hedge if livestock can reach it.

Cherry laurel has always been popular for its vigorous evergreen growth, which can easily be pruned into a much smaller form. In our busy, modern lives, nobody has the time to be constantly trimming their plants, so over the years smaller forms have been found. English Cherry Laurel is the pick of those, which is why we have chosen to offer it to you as the ideal form of English laurel to grow

Soil Conditions

English Cherry Laurel will grow in any soil, tolerating poor soils, heavy clay soil, and urban pollution. It is best, if you want to produce a strong healthy plant as soon as possible, to add organic material like compost, peat-moss or rotted manure to the soil. Do this when preparing the area for planting. Give your hedge or plants plenty of water during the first few years. Once you have established them, and they have grown to the height you want them, these plants will tolerate – and even thrive – on almost total neglect, never needing watering or fertilizing at all. A great zero-maintenance plant.

Choosing the Right Cherry Laurel

There are many different varieties of Cherry Laurel available. It is important to use the right one for your purpose, since some remain very small, while others will tower over your garden and need constant trimming. The English Cherry Laurel is ideal both as a background plant or specimen in shady areas, left to grow untrimmed to its natural height of around six feet, or trimmed into the perfect dense hedge.

This selected form has been developed over years and it cannot be grown from seed. It is wise to avoid cheaper plants, which are often seedlings of unknown origin which will produce variable and uncertain growth. The trees we send you are grown by trusted experts, who work with material derived directly from the original plants of this variety, so you will get plants that grow exactly as described here. Every plant is identical, which means your hedge or screen will be uniform in every way, with no variations in foliage color or leaf shape. They will all be equally vigorous, with none growing out of control, or languishing as weaklings. It always pays to get the best.

Using Dwarf English Cherry Laurel as a Screen or Hedge

English Cherry Laurel is the perfect choice for planting a lower screen or formal hedge, growing well in either sun or shade. You can leave it to grow naturally, clip it lightly, or trim it into a neat, formal hedge. Unlike many other evergreens, especially conifers, if this plant grows too large, or you want to make a drastic change to its size, it will respond well, sprouting from old, thick, bare branches in just a few weeks.

That means that if these trees become too large, you can cut them right back to the trunks and they will re-sprout quickly. Even if you neglect them for several years, they will not be lost. You can quickly reduce them in size and start again. Of course, this variety of laurel only grows to around 6 feet tall, so even left alone it will fit comfortable into smaller spaces.

Using Dwarf English Cherry Laurel as an Informal Barrier

Dense, thick screens are often needed around a property, to create privacy and exclude dust, noise and pollution. If you need a lower screen, then the English Cherry Laurel is the ideal choice. It will grow to around 6 feet tall, and if unclipped it will be 6 feet thick, or even a little more. Some light trimming when plants are young will help encourage very dense growth, but even untrimmed trees become solid and impenetrable.

If you want to grow a privacy screen, plant your trees between 3 and 5 feet apart. Planted closely your trees will fill in and give you a solid barrier in just a few short years. Planted further apart they will do the same in time – it just takes longer. Laurel in time naturally grows wider than it does tall, so a wider spacing is an economical option that will save you money, while still giving you good results, if you have a little more patience.

Using Dwarf English Cherry Laurel as a Formal Hedge

For a neat hedge that you trim into shape, plant your trees 3 feet apart. For an extra dense hedge – ideal for screening out noise and dust, plant a double row. Space the rows 3 feet apart and the plants 4 to 5 feet apart, arranging them to form a zigzag. You will soon have a thick, impenetrable hedge guaranteed to bring you absolute privacy. For the best results, dig a trench, then space out the plants in a straight line along the bottom of the trench.

Spacing is much easier to do in a trench than in individual holes, and the extra digging also opens up the ground for more rapid root growth. Space the first and last plants in the row half your chosen planting distance from where you want the hedge to begin and end. Doing this will give you the perfect hedge.

Caring for English Cherry Laurel

This low care plant is easy to grow and needs very little attention to thrive in any garden. Here are some basic tips to help make that job even easier.

Watering

Water your new trees once or twice a week for the first few weeks, until they are well established and started to send out new growth. Water thoroughly once a week, or every two weeks during cool and damp weather, for the first growing season. In very dry areas you may need to do this during the second year too, but after that, watering will increase the growth rate, but it is not necessary at all, unless you have very extended periods of heat and drought.

Mulch and Fertilizer

Much will help conserve water and reduce the growth of weeds. Use a 2 to 3-inch thick layer, spread over the root zone. Keep it a few inches away from the trunk. In spring, add extra mulch if necessary. Don’t dig the old mulch into the ground, or rake it up, just cover it with an inch or two or new material.

Feed your plants regularly during the early years with fertilizer suitable for evergreen trees and hedges. This will give you the quickest growth-rate and develop the strongest plants. Mature plants only need occasional feeding. Use granular or slow-release formulations and follow the manufacturer’s directions. Do not overfeed. Spring and summer are usually the best times to feed your plants.

Pruning and Trimming

English Cherry Laurel is easy to trim, as it will quickly re-sprout, even from thick, bare branches. You can trim your trees anytime between spring and mid-fall, but avoid trimming before cold weather, as it can stimulate new growth, creating the potential for cold damage to that soft new growth.

Young trees are best pruned with pruners, rather than hedge trimmers, to avoid cutting the leaves. Later you can change to regular trimmers to save time. For an informal effect, pruning is not necessary, but for a hedge it is important to start trimming when plants are still young, so that you develop a dense hedge that is not too wide. Do this by trimming the tips off the branches regularly, to encourage dense branching.

Trim screens once a year if necessary, especially if you want foliage right to the ground. These plants naturally spread sideways and this shades the lower parts, so that a tree-like form eventually develops. To prevent this, trim the upper branches back so that the lower branches continue to receive light and remain strong and vigorous.

Hedges should be trimmed two or three times a year, starting when your plants are still young. Trim the upper growth more than the bottom, so that your hedge leans inwards slightly. This lets light penetrate all the way to the lower branches, keeping your hedge thick from top to bottom.

Buying Dwarf English Cherry Laurel at The Tree Center

For a real work-horse around the garden, especially if you have a lot of shade, the English Cherry Laurel is the top choice. We constantly receive new shipments, but because of its great popularity, we can experience stock shortages. Order that hedge, or plants for your beds, right away, to avoid being disappointed.