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Laurel Hedge - maximum height!!

neil_tT-w_gtneil_tT-w_gt Posts: 8
in Plants
We have a 20m long 12m high laurel which we want to get to 15m (to hide an 18m hall that’s been built the other side of our boundary!). With the right irrigation, food and professional pruning, is this possible or has it reached its maximum or just take much longer to reach such a height. Or will it keep going the same speed as it’s always done when cut back to encourage growth which is what we’re praying will happen! If the latter could I hope to have this hall blocked in 3 years as the the last 3 years it grew loads although I didn’t measure it and wish I had!!
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  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    That kind of height seems absolutely mad to me...but then I'm gardening in a city plot. 12 metres of laurel foliage would make me feel so claustrophobic. Just not sure any plant will obscure such a big area successfully. Maybe add a photo to give the members an idea what it looks like, if it's Prunus Lusitanica it has the capacity to grow to that height...but because it can it doesn't mean it should. 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • PerkiPerki Posts: 2,527
    A laurel hedge / plant wouldn't reach 15 metres high unless you mean 15 feet . Laurel can put on quite a bit of growth in one season, if its still quite wild it can put on 2ft ( 60cm ) in a year sometimes a bit more , ones that are regularly pruned annually don't grow as much.  
  • neil_tT-w_gtneil_tT-w_gt Posts: 8

  • neil_tT-w_gtneil_tT-w_gt Posts: 8
    Best I can do and even this doesn’t give total perspective. I’m really not asking about suitability or whether it will be claustrophobic (it won’t) It really is a binary question of whether it’s possible to get a laurel that high! Perhaps 12m is an exaggeration but it’s certainly several metres high already. Also I have always been told that laurel grows much quicker when pruned rather than left alone (it then grows up in shoots and becomes woody and we need it think and dense). Appreciate the help. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Given good care and optimum conditions it’ll block out that view in a couple of years, no problem. I know some Laurel hedges much taller than that. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • neil_tT-w_gtneil_tT-w_gt Posts: 8
    Dovefromabove said:
    Given good care and optimum conditions it’ll block out that view in a couple of years, no problem. I know some Laurel hedges much taller than that. 
    You’ve made my day. Thank you!!!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited December 2020
    😊 Clear any rubbish, grass and weeds from the base of the hedge. Bare soil 2 to 3 ft wide each side of the base of the hedge will cut down on competition for nutrition and moisture and enable you to feed, water and mulch more efficiently. 

     

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • neil_tT-w_gtneil_tT-w_gt Posts: 8
    Dovefromabove said:
    😊 Clear any rubbish, grass and weeds from the base of the hedge. Bare soil 2 to 3 ft wide each side of the base of the hedge will cut down on competition for nutrition and moisture and enable you to feed, water and mulch more efficiently. 

     
    Thank you. We did that last year ready for a big growth spurt in the spring. My worry was that it had reached its maximum height or if it hadn’t, growth would be slow as it’s high already. I mean it has to stop at some point right :)
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    They grow to huge heights in the right conditions so it won't have a problem getting to the height you want. 
    Just bear in mind that while it's getting to that size, it won't conveniently stop either - in all directions, and will need some maintenance. It will need to be pruned to keep it dense, because the main branches will become very thick, and pruning back once they get like that means they'll be quite bare. Keeping the sides regularly pruned will keep the density :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • neil_tT-w_gtneil_tT-w_gt Posts: 8
    Fairygirl said:
    They grow to huge heights in the right conditions so it won't have a problem getting to the height you want. 
    Just bear in mind that while it's getting to that size, it won't conveniently stop either - in all directions, and will need some maintenance. It will need to be pruned to keep it dense, because the main branches will become very thick, and pruning back once they get like that means they'll be quite bare. Keeping the sides regularly pruned will keep the density :)

    Thanks. Yes we will hire a horticulturalist (overkill perhaps but I don't want to take any chances). Height alone is no good to me, we density so appreciate we will need to occasionally cut back to promote next phase of growth.
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