Laurel Hedging Plants

Why Plant a Laurel Hedge?

Laurel plants are great for hedging because they form a tall, dense, evergreen hedge relatively quickly. They also grow well in most locations and are easy to maintain.

How Quickly will a Laurel Hedge grow?

Laurel hedges will grow at around 40–60cm per year. The speed of growth will vary depending on factors such as how well the ground is prepared prior to planting, whether the soil has been adequately decompacted, whether the plants have been planted correctly and the subsequent aftercare of the plants (e.g., feeding and watering).

How Tall will a laurel hedge Grow?

Laurel hedges can grow up to 10 metres high and potentially over this if conditions are favourable and they are left unchecked. Typically, they will grow up to around 3 or 4 metres high when maintained as a hedge. However, a Laurel hedge can be kept much lower than this if required (from around one metre upwards).

How far apart should you space laurel hedging plants to form a hedge?

The spacing of plants in a Laurel hedge is dependent on the size of the plants that are being planted, the time you are prepared to wait for the hedge to grow and also budget restraints. For our 10-litre potted plants, we generally recommend planting at 2–3 plants per metre. Two 10-litre Laurels per metre will have a narrow gap between them that should fill in within a year, whilst three plants per metre will be just touching when planted and would probably save a year to 18 months on the time it takes to form a hedge compared to using two plants per metre.

Our instant Laurel hedges in 90-litre troughs are made up of three plants per metre, which we find gives us a dense hedge in a reasonably quick timeframe. If you are using bigger Laurel plants such as rootballed Laurels, then these can be spaced further apart, to the point where they are just touching. We give a recommendation of the planting density for each plant size on the website. Our recommendations are based on planting at a density that the plants will touch after one full growing season. This is only a guideline, so please use more plants to reduce this timescale or fewer plants per metre if you have time to wait.

How do I plant laurel hedging?

Most of the hedging plants that we sell will require the same planting procedures. We offer guidance on how to plant a hedge on our website.

How often do I need to trim my Laurel hedge?

We recommend trimming a Laurel hedge at least once a year. They will tolerate hard pruning if the hedge has grown wider or taller than desired. Trimming your Laurel hedge more frequently will require less work each time and fewer trimmings to dispose of.

When should I trim my Laurel hedge?

The trimming and pruning of Laurel hedging is best carried out in the spring just before the plants have started growing again, or in the autumn when their growth starts to shut down for the winter.

How do I trim a Laurel Hedge?

It is possible to use hedge trimmers for trimming your Laurel hedge, but as Laurels have quite large leaves, some of these leaves will be sliced through by the hedge trimmers. These cut Laurel leaves will crisp up and go brown at the edges as they heal. However, if this is done in spring, then the new foliage coming through will cover these older leaves, making this less noticeable until the older leaves eventually fall after being replaced by the new leaves coming through. For this reason, many people suggest cutting a Laurel hedge with secateurs to avoid slicing through the leaves. However, in practice in the nursery, we simply use hedge trimmers for the main trim and follow up with secateurs to tidy up and remove any shredded leaves.

Do I need to feed my laurel Hedge?

We would recommend at least one annual provision of some sort of feed for your Laurel hedge. Slow-releasing feeds are generally considered best as they provide a steady release of nutrients over a longer period of time. The best time to feed a Laurel hedge would normally be in the spring just as the new leaves start to break through. On the nursery, we would follow this up with a late spring feed and also at least one in the summer.

What type of soil and conditions will a laurel hedge tolerate?

Laurel hedges aren’t overly fussy, which is a big part of what makes them so popular. They will grow in most soils with the exception of waterlogged or chalky soils. If you have chalky soil, then consider Portuguese Laurel or Green Privet as alternatives.

Laurel hedges will grow in full sun and partial shade and will even tolerate heavy shade, although they will grow quicker the more sun they receive. On our travels, we have seen many Laurel hedges planted by the coast, and although they do grow, they are not a fan of salt-laden winds. The salt from the wind can make the leaves go brown and crispy at the edges, and this can ruin the aesthetics of the hedge. If you are right by the coast, it would be worth considering Griselinia Littoralis or Elaeagnus Ebbingei plants, as both of these types of hedging plants are salt-tolerant and grow well in coastal locations.

Are Laurel Hedges easy to maintain?

As the Laurel hedging plants we supply are fast growing, they will require more maintenance than a slower-growing hedging plant species such as Portuguese Laurel or Yew Hedging Plants. That being said, a Laurel hedge can be kept looking tidy with a trim at least once a year in most situations.

Can I restore an overgrown Laurel Hedge?

Laurel hedges are usually very tolerant of hard pruning; it is possible to cut a Laurel back to a mere stump and it will often regrow with vigour. Various discussions are out there on the best time to do this, but in our experience, the best time for us is in late winter/early spring (late enough that the frosts have stopped but before the plants have started growing again). This way, the new energy produced by the Laurel plants as they start to grow again in spring is concentrated at the site of the pruning, and by the end of the summer, you can hardly see where they were cut back to in the first place. We would normally follow any hard pruning up with a spray with a general fungicide and a controlled feed at the emergence of the new shoots coming through.

Can Laurel hedges suffer from problems?

Laurel hedges can suffer from a bacterial infection known as pseudomonas syringae or ‘shothole’, so called because the leaves of the plant become pitted with lots of little holes resembling that of a shotgun wound. Although this can look unsightly and cause concern, it is not usually fatal to the plants and they can recover from it. The bacteria spreads from the wounds on one leaf to another through water droplets. For this reason, if the problem is caught early and is only minor, the spread of the bacteria can be slowed by removing any affected leaves. Additionally, any affected leaves that have fallen to the floor should be swept up and disposed of.

What Laurel hedging plants do you have for sale?

We grow a range of sizes of Laurel hedging plants for sale here on the nursery.

We grow potted Laurel hedging plants, mainly in 10-litre pots, and we also grow and sell rootballed Laurel hedging in the autumn through to late winter/early spring. For more immediate impact, we also grow our instant Laurel hedges in 90-litre troughs. These instant hedges come in 1-metre lengths but do require two strong people to lift them.

Do you grow your own Laurel hedging Plants?

All the Laurel hedging plants that we sell are grown outside here on our nursery in Holmeswood, Lancashire, where we produce robust plants that are quick to establish.

Are Laurels poisonous?

The short answer is yes. Regarding the Laurels that we sell for hedging such as Prunus Laurocerasus Rotundifolia, all parts of the plant including the leaves and berries are poisonous to humans, livestock and animals if ingested. If the hedge to be planted is in the vicinity of livestock, pets or very small children and there is a chance that the foliage or berries of the hedge could be eaten by mistake, then we would suggest planting an alternative species of hedging such as Elaeagnus Ebbingei, Griselinia Littoralis or Photinia Red robin, which have no reports of toxic effects. We grow and sell thousands of Laurel plants every year and are not aware of any problems arising from any of our customers after planting a Laurel hedge in close proximity to either pets or young children. We would, however, suggest that after pruning your Laurel hedge you collect up all the material that is cut from the hedge and dispose of it in green waste bins rather than composting at home.