Laurel can be trimmed or pruned to the height you require and, if it grows too big, it can be cut back as hard as you like – right back to the stump if necessary – and it will re-grow quickly into a new hedge.
What is the best month to cut a laurel hedge?
To encourage laurel growth, trim the hedge in July or August. But bare in mind that this hedge has large, tough leaves and is best trimmed using secateurs. Pruning of Laurel hedges can be performed at any time up until the end of summer. However, it’s best done in spring.
How many times a year should you cut a laurel hedge?
A laurel hedge only needs trimming once a year. The best time to prune is late spring or early summer.
How do you prune an overgrown laurel bush?
Start by reducing the height using a taught string line to keep it level, the height can be reduced drastically by several metres if necessary (even taking the plants back to stumps) although the work can be split over a couple of seasons if you are cutting the height back by more than one third.
How hard can you cut back a laurel hedge? – Related Questions
When should you not cut a laurel hedge?
Laurel hedges may be trimmed at any time during the season but its best to avoid the coldest months of the year as the cut edges may be susceptible to frost damage. Many text books advise trimming Laurel hedging plants with secateurs to avoid cut edges to the large leaves, it really isn’t necessary.
How do you shape a laurel hedge?
Remember to trim your laurel hedge into a sort of “A” shape, but with a flat top. A slight taper to a hedge – wider at the bottom than at the top – allows light and air to get to the lower branches, keeping them healthy and covered in leaf.
Can laurels be shaped?
After flowering, you can once again shape your cherry laurel with a light pruning. This is especially recommended for vigorously growing varieties. Regular maintenance pruning is also necessary for specimen plants that have been pruned into shape.
Can you cut a laurel hedge with a hedge cutter?
You can trim your laurel with shears, secateurs or a hedge trimmer. Many books will tell you to use secateurs because laurels have large leaves and the cut edges left by a hedge trimmer will leave them looking unkempt.
How do you make laurels bushier?
To prune laurel to encourage growth, we’d recommend trimming the branches and cutting them back several times a year (depending on how fast it grows) by up to a quarter. This makes the bush come back bushier and thicker than before more rapidly.
Can you shape laurel like a tree?
English laurel is often grown as a shrub and planted as hedges, but it can also be trained as a tree. When not pruned for size, English laurel will grow up to 30 feet tall.
When should laurel be pruned?
Late spring or early summer is the best time to trim most hedges including laurel and leylandii hedges. You can prune a laurel hedge with secateurs – which is not as labour-intensive as it sounds – or with a hedgetrimmer.
Is a laurel a tree or a bush?
The laurel is an evergreen shrub or small tree, variable in size and sometimes reaching 7–18 m (23–59 ft) tall. The genus Laurus includes four accepted species, whose diagnostic key characters often overlap.
How do you shape laurels to skip them?
What do skip laurels look like?
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.
How do you maintain laurels?
Laurels prefer consistent moisture, though Carolina cherry laurel becomes quite drought tolerant with time. When possible, however, keep plants consistently moist by watering deeply but infrequently, waiting until they have dried out somewhat before adding enough water to thoroughly drench the root zone.
How tall do laurels grow?
An unpruned English laurel can reach up to 40 feet in height, but keeping it around 10 to 12 feet tall makes it a perfect backyard privacy screen.
What is the lifespan of a laurel?
It has a life span of approximately 50 years. Laurel Oak thrives in either full sun or partial shade. It grows in upland, sandhill, and dune areas with dry, well-drained, and sandy soils; it is also tolerant of wet and periodically flooded conditions.
How tall should a laurel hedge be?
Cherry Laurel is an easy hedge to transplant, and you can have a quick, evergreen hedge, by buying the plants at 5 foot to 6 foot tall. If you plant the smaller plants, and you maintain them well, they can grow from about 18 inches tall, to being a 4 to 5 foot hedge, in 3 seasons of growth.