Cherry laurels are extremely popular with landscape
designers as evergreen foundation shrubs and hedges, but
they’re less well known to the
public because they’re not showy. They don’t exactly scream "buy
me" at the nursery.
The ‘Otto Luyken’ and ‘Schip’ laurels are the favorites, both of
which I use in my garden - they’re used to hide both the foundation of the house and the under-deck view. And the taller species functions well as an evergreen screening hedge
along my side property line. But don’t miss the pruning ideas below.
In the U.S. they’re often referred to as "English laurels;" in England, not surprisingly, just "cherry laurels." They’re indigenous to Eastern
Europe and Asia Minor.
DETAILS
- All varieties do well in full sun or partial shade, and
‘Otto Luyken’ even tolerates deep shade. - White blooms appear mid-spring
- Size? Take your pick.
- The species (photo right) grows fast (up to 2′ per year) to 20 feet tall, if
left unpruned. - ‘Otto Luyken’ grows to 3-4 feet tall and 6-8 feet wide. It’s shown in the
top photo. - ‘Schipkaensis’ or ‘Schip’ (photo below) grows to 4-5 feet tall and 5-8 feet
wide.
- The species (photo right) grows fast (up to 2′ per year) to 20 feet tall, if
- Sources say they need good drainage, but doesn’t almost every plant?
- Hardy to Zone 6.
CARE
- One less-than-helpful source tells us to "water regularly". In my
experience
they’re quite drought-tolerant, once established in the garden
(after at least the first season). - To prune for smaller size, cut the tallest stems back to varying heights,
but always just above another branch (don’t leave stumps). OR remove the tallest
one-third of the stems all the way to
the ground or close to it every year.
- Left unpruned, cherry laurels can become so thick and densely branched that
light and air are restricted and disease and pest infestations are encouraged.
So keep them more open and healthy by removing some of the interior branches,
especially ones growing toward the center. - Don’t prune by sheering around the edges to a perfect but unnatural
shape - this will lead to the same dead interior problems described above
(disease, pests).
Readers, if you’ve grown these, do what’s been your experience with them?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Doug Green 11.25.07 at 10:55 am
Dead as a doornail in a garden trial. Mind you, USDA zone 4 is “somewhat” out of their range.
mss @ Zanthan Gardens 11.27.07 at 9:12 am
Are you talking about Prunus caroliniana? If so, then yes I have them in my back yard along a chain link fence. My neighbor planted some originally and mine are self-seeded from hers.
They are drought and heat-tolerant here in Central Texas. I don’t provide supplemental water and they only looked a bit bad 1 year out of the last 15 during a particularly hot and dry summer (which browned even nandina and liriope). Most of the time they are a welcome glossy green during our most wilt-provoking summers.
However, I find them to be short-lived and weak-wooded. Mine are tall variety used as a screen. I don’t prune them as a formal hedge but try to keep them light and airy. I’ve gone through several generations of plants–they seem to last about 7 to 10 years. There’s a lot of plants I’d rather use as a screen; I only keep the cherry laurels because they are there already.
susan harriss 11.27.07 at 9:34 am
Sorry, MSS, I somehow left off the Latin name. It’s Prunus laurocerasus.
I just Googled the native Caroliniana you mentioned and found the accusations of invasiveness interesting, since the word is usually reserved for nonnatives. On Daves Garden the negative reviews outweigh the positives.
And Doug, the plant I wrote about is definitely not hardy in Zone 4, so your result is to be expected.
bev 11.28.07 at 8:02 am
I’ve grown cherry laurels for 25 years in my N. Va. yard and skip laurels for about 10 years. I find them both to be shade tolerant (a must for me) and carefree. I have never pruned mine, although their habit is probably more open due to the shade. I never had to water them once established. The skip laurels, which are in more sun, have grown taller than your post, about 10 ft. They make a great evergreen screen!
Bogie 12.01.07 at 7:28 am
That plant was sounding great until the hardy to zone 6 thing. Not exactly useful for those of us in 5 or lower (4b for me). Ah well, I’m sure there must be something that I can grow that those in higher zones can’t (icicles don’t count - do they?).
Eric 12.30.07 at 9:11 pm
I live in Rockville, Maryland, just north of Washington, DC and I’ve found that the otto luyken types do quite well under my large silver maple, which as most folks know is a tough place to grow much of anything…I also have a schip laurel and it does well, but it is protected from winter winds…same with my regular english laurel - they all do best when protected from winter winds - and yes, they need to drain - they will rot if left in a wet spot.