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Cherry Laurels.

Planted cherry laurels 2 years ago. They get regular feed and water. Yet they look awful don’t seem to be progressing much. Any hints or tips please? 

Posts

  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    IMHO cherry laurels always look awful anyways. I suggest uprooting and replacing with nicer-looking shrubs.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    @Papi Jo ... other people are allowed to make their own choices ...  if everyone shared your taste in plants we’d all have gardens just like yours and yours would no longer seem exceptional 😂 

    @a-j-stirling 😊 the combined wisdom of the forum regarding Cherry Laurel hedges is contained in this thread https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/656523/help-needed-please-with-laurel-hedge-issues/p1

    Read it from start to finish and you’ll know exactly what to do ... hope that helps 😊 

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





  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    @Dovefromabove Of course people are allowed to make their own choice. I was only suggesting an alternative choice. There is such a wide choice of hedge shrubs---other than laurels---that there is little danger of two gardens looking the same.
    The thread you mention spreads over 33 pages. Probably a sign that laurel hedges are difficult to maintain or maybe they are a controversial topic?
    PS.- I certainly don't wish all gardens to look like mine nor do I consider mine to be "exceptional". There are some lovely gardens on this forum and a wide variety of designs and choice of plants and this is great.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    IMO these shrubs grow best on poor soil, I have never fed our hedging, only watering at the first when they were planted.
    They'll grow in anything, I’ve got the best ones growing out of a dry stone wall, hardly any soil, so your problem could be that the bed looks rather fresh and you’re feeding them as well.  Could be that when you’ve watered you’ve not given enough, that will cause the roots to come up for the water, if you don’t water them the roots will go deep in the ground to find it. 
    The thing that laurels like best is being cut back, I would cut those by half, you’ll see them grow like mad then.
    It doesn’t look like they were cut back on planting, that’s why they’re bare at the bottom.

    once they start growing again, keep the trimmed, top and sides until they’ve thickened up.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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