Cherry laurel
Plant in autumn if you can, space hedging 60-75cm apart, and resist the urge to plant closer for a quicker screen — it fills in fast and crowded plants go bare at the base.
Care
One of the few hedging plants that is genuinely happy in deep shade.
Very drought-tolerant once established; water only through the first two summers.
Almost anything except waterlogged ground or thin chalk, where common laurel yellows badly. Portuguese laurel is the better choice on chalk.
Cut with secateurs, not a hedge trimmer: a blade through the big leaves leaves brown half-leaves that stay for months. Trim in late spring and again in early autumn. It breaks freely from old bare wood, so an overgrown hedge can be cut back hard in spring and will regrow.
A general feed in spring for a hedge that is being cut hard and often, since clipping removes what would otherwise return as leaf litter. An established informal plant needs nothing at all.
Semi-ripe cuttings in late summer root readily in a gritty mix in a shaded frame. Low branches also layer themselves in the leaf litter, and a rooted piece can be severed in spring.
Month by month
Months change with the climate: in southern Italy tomatoes go out two months earlier than in England.
- AprilFeed a clipped hedge as growth resumes; an informal plant needs nothing. how ›
- MayMain trim with secateurs, not a trimmer — cut leaves brown at the edges and stay that way. how ›
- JuneCheck for shot-hole: small round holes in the leaves, usually cosmetic.
- SeptemberLight second trim, early enough for the cuts to harden before frost. how ›
- NovemberClear fallen leaves from the base of a hedge; they are slow to rot and can smother what grows beneath.
Months based on climate: UK. Your choice stays on this device.
- AprilFeed a clipped hedge as growth resumes; an informal plant needs nothing. how ›
- MayMain trim with secateurs, not a trimmer — cut leaves brown at the edges and stay that way. how ›
- JuneCheck for shot-hole: small round holes in the leaves, usually cosmetic.
- SeptemberLight second trim, early enough for the cuts to harden before frost. how ›
- NovemberClear fallen leaves from the base of a hedge; they are slow to rot and can smother what grows beneath.
Months based on climate: Northern Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- MarchFeed a clipped hedge as growth resumes; an informal plant needs nothing. how ›
- AprilMain trim with secateurs, not a trimmer — cut leaves brown at the edges and stay that way. how ›
- JuneCheck for shot-hole: small round holes in the leaves, usually cosmetic.
- SeptemberLight second trim, early enough for the cuts to harden before frost. how ›
- NovemberClear fallen leaves from the base of a hedge; they are slow to rot and can smother what grows beneath.
Months based on climate: Central Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- MarchFeed a clipped hedge as growth resumes; an informal plant needs nothing. how ›
- AprilMain trim with secateurs, not a trimmer — cut leaves brown at the edges and stay that way. how ›
- JuneCheck for shot-hole: small round holes in the leaves, usually cosmetic.
- OctoberLight second trim, early enough for the cuts to harden before frost. how ›
- DecemberClear fallen leaves from the base of a hedge; they are slow to rot and can smother what grows beneath.
Months based on climate: Southern Italy and islands. Your choice stays on this device.
Common problems
How to spot it. Neat round holes through the leaves, as if shot.
What to do. Usually a bacterial or fungal blemish on a stressed plant; improve airflow and water in drought. Rarely needs treatment.
How to spot it. White coating and distorted young shoots after a hard clip in hot weather.
What to do. Trim in cooler, damper conditions; cut out the worst shoots.
How to spot it. Yellow leaves with green veins on thin alkaline soil.
What to do. Common laurel dislikes chalk — mulch heavily, or plant Portuguese laurel instead.
Questions
Cherry laurel: is it hardy?
H5: Hardy in most of the UK, but can struggle in the coldest inland or upland spots. It survives down to −15 °C.
Can it grow in a pot?
Portuguese laurel takes a large pot well as a clipped standard or cone; common laurel grows too fast to stay happy in one.
Cherry laurel: when do you prune it?
Cut with secateurs, not a hedge trimmer: a blade through the big leaves leaves brown half-leaves that stay for months. In the calendar for UK, pruning falls in May, September.
Cherry laurel: when does it flower?
In the climate of UK it flowers in April–May.
When do you feed it?
A general feed in spring for a hedge that is being cut hard and often, since clipping removes what would otherwise return as leaf litter. An established informal plant needs nothing at all. Feeding months, UK: April.