Oh, they look a lot smaller than that in the pictures! Maybe it's the angle. Perhaps take the top third or so off to encourage them to keep filling out lower down. I'm sure other people will be along with advice too.
Be careful with the strimmer - you don't want to nick the bark.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
What do you reckon about the one which was injured before planting @JennyJ? one of the pictures shows the damaged bark. I've planted that in the corner so I'm hoping if it fails the trees to either side will fill that gap anyhow
As Jenny says, whip the tops off if you want to thicken then up. i can see you’ve spent a lot of time on those, but they are very close to the wall, have you seen how these trees grow, ours now have branches as thick as my arm, they’ve been in about 8 years or so. You will need to get behind them somehow to saw off the branches, they will grow very big. You can keep them smaller by cutting them back but the branches will still thicken. They really don't need feeding, by feeding you are encouraging green growth when they should really be putting down roots first.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Thanks for the advice @Lyn. In that case I'll stop feeding them and just make sure they are well watered.
Yeah, I'm aware they are quite close to the wall at the front. Truth be told, we removed a total of 128 trees from this garden. It took lots of time, effort and money to get us to where we are now. Three large conifer hedges surrounded the property but they, like so many, started to die and became overgrown and unmanageable. We don't really want to lose TOO much of the new found garden space.
As you can see, in the lower corner of the garden, I recently installed a new drainage channel. The centre of the tree holes are about a foot away from that, so roughly 2 feet from the wall. Where the drainage channel ends, I've planted the trees with hole centres about a foot from the wall, instead of two.
I've seen many of these hedges fully grown and I regularly maintain my parents' one which was planted about 12 years ago. Their hedges were planted about a foot from their boundary fence and they've grown dramatically over the past couple of years, now about 12 feet high!
My aim with the front trees is that they'll form a hedge to provide security and privacy. My hope is that the branches below the wall copings will eventually stop producing growth as there will be no light getting to them. I've noticed the hedge at my parents' house isn't producing much growth where the fence is. Until that happens, I've a wide range of tools in the shed, everything from heavy duty pruners to anvil and bypass loppers, telescoping loppers, trimmers and branch saws to help me keep it under control.
The front wall is 4 foot high. However, the road service built new raised footpaths a number of years ago and the ground on the opposite side of that wall is actually about 2 feet higher than my garden so the garden wall is essentially just 2 feet high from that side. That's why I'm thinking I'd need an 8 feet high hedge, from the footpath outside it will really only look like 6 feet.
The wall depth is around about a foot. The trees are planted about a foot to 2 feet away from the wall so they can grow out 2 to3 feet before going out past the edge of my wall copings. Ideally, I'd like to try and maintain the hedge at ABOUT 3 to 4 feet wide, losing as little garden as possible while still getting the height we're looking for.
Any advice on the damaged tree @Lyn? Do you think it will die or is there anything you could recommend to help it survive? It does seem to be producing new growth...
Hi. This is a brilliant thread with such great advice and success stories. So lucky to have come across this before purchasing any laurel. Just have a couple of queries so hope that's ok. Is it better to buy bareroot or rootball? I have read online rootball is better for the plant and therefore more likely to survive but they are about 5x the price! Worth it or not? Do they grow better having come with a rootball?
I have seen the advice to purchase 3ft plants and chop down to 2ft. Looking online around that size they are sold as 60-80cm or 80-100cm. Would the larger size be better as more in line with 3ft? Scots plants (as recommended on here) unfortunately only have 40-60cm available this year and it's hard to find 80-100cm bareroot anywhere.
Also is rootgrow worth it? Haven't seen much mentioned about it on here. I have BFB already to plant with them as per the advice here.
Looking for some help with my newly planted Laurels and after reading every single post in this thread, I just wanted to run my plan past you guys, so ensure I’m doing the right thing.
Background…
Had a mixture of privet, rose rugosa, two very weak and infected trees and poison ivy removed from the gap between my fence and the pavement, and replaced with 5foot laurels.
Laurels were pot grown.
No new soil, fertiliser etc was used (even though I was assured they would be).
I don’t think the roots were teased on planting.
What I’ve learnt so far (from this thread and in general)….
I should have gone with smaller laurels.
The gap they are planted in is too small.
Even after researching, following their work and several conversation, you can still end up going with the wrong person for the job.
I need to reduce the height.
I need to water them a lot.
Day of planting (6 weeks ago)
Today
I watered them once a week, every week for the first 3 weeks, then when the weather got bad (very windy and constantly raining) I stopped watering, through fear over watering them. But I think the wind has made them lean forward rather then staying straight and upright.
Close up this what they look like, on each one there are branches where the leaves have completely dried up
So heres my plan….
Remove all the rubbish that has gathered (you probably can’t see it in the pics, but believe me wrappers, tissues, cigarettes and doggy bags have already been chucked in!!).
Spread the soil out so that it’s not in heaps around some and completely flat around the others.
Add fish bone and blood all over.
Water them 2x week.
Regarding cutting them #scared…
about 2foot off so that I can retain some security (it’s a main road) but also give them a chance to settle/grow.
Will that be enough and is April the right time to cut?
Should I cut some from the sides too, in order to get them to grow sideways and knit together?
Can you see how in the 2nd to last picture the laurel is actually leaning forward, away from the fence - how can I fix this?
And what should I do about the branches that dried out?
All help greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.
Maybe you should cut your loses and try to sell them on before they take root. Then you could plant something more suitable, perhaps Pyracantha would work but I'm no expert.
I'd agree - not the right plant for the site unfortunately, even if pruned back which always makes it easier for establishing them. Bigger specimens are always a bit harder, even with a perfect site. Beech would have been better - or the Pyracantha mentioned, or something like Cotoneaster. They can all be kept tight and with very little attention. It's virtually impossible to overwater laurel, but the site will tend to be very dry, so a plant which can cope with that would have been a better choice. Escallonia for example, although the others will also cope with drier conditions once established.
Perhaps you could dig them up and re sell as mentioned by @Ditsy. Would that be possible for you?
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Unfortunately, digging them up and selling them is probably not going to happen.
I basically need to work with what I have and make the best of a bad situation.
There are several houses in the area that have the same set up, Laurels on the road side with a fence right behind them, their fence panels look fine and the laurels haven’t taken over the pavement.
There are also many houses that have just laurels with no fence or wall - and they have really spread out and do take up most of the pavement.
Posts
i can see you’ve spent a lot of time on those, but they are very close to the wall, have you seen how these trees grow, ours now have branches as thick as my arm, they’ve been in about 8 years or so.
You will need to get behind them somehow to saw off the branches, they will grow very big.
You can keep them smaller by cutting them back but the branches will still thicken.
They really don't need feeding, by feeding you are encouraging green growth when they should really be putting down roots first.
Yeah, I'm aware they are quite close to the wall at the front. Truth be told, we removed a total of 128 trees from this garden. It took lots of time, effort and money to get us to where we are now. Three large conifer hedges surrounded the property but they, like so many, started to die and became overgrown and unmanageable. We don't really want to lose TOO much of the new found garden space.
As you can see, in the lower corner of the garden, I recently installed a new drainage channel. The centre of the tree holes are about a foot away from that, so roughly 2 feet from the wall. Where the drainage channel ends, I've planted the trees with hole centres about a foot from the wall, instead of two.
I've seen many of these hedges fully grown and I regularly maintain my parents' one which was planted about 12 years ago. Their hedges were planted about a foot from their boundary fence and they've grown dramatically over the past couple of years, now about 12 feet high!
My aim with the front trees is that they'll form a hedge to provide security and privacy. My hope is that the branches below the wall copings will eventually stop producing growth as there will be no light getting to them. I've noticed the hedge at my parents' house isn't producing much growth where the fence is. Until that happens, I've a wide range of tools in the shed, everything from heavy duty pruners to anvil and bypass loppers, telescoping loppers, trimmers and branch saws to help me keep it under control.
The front wall is 4 foot high. However, the road service built new raised footpaths a number of years ago and the ground on the opposite side of that wall is actually about 2 feet higher than my garden so the garden wall is essentially just 2 feet high from that side. That's why I'm thinking I'd need an 8 feet high hedge, from the footpath outside it will really only look like 6 feet.
The wall depth is around about a foot. The trees are planted about a foot to 2 feet away from the wall so they can grow out 2 to3 feet before going out past the edge of my wall copings. Ideally, I'd like to try and maintain the hedge at ABOUT 3 to 4 feet wide, losing as little garden as possible while still getting the height we're looking for.
Any advice on the damaged tree @Lyn? Do you think it will die or is there anything you could recommend to help it survive? It does seem to be producing new growth...
Is it better to buy bareroot or rootball? I have read online rootball is better for the plant and therefore more likely to survive but they are about 5x the price! Worth it or not? Do they grow better having come with a rootball?
I have seen the advice to purchase 3ft plants and chop down to 2ft. Looking online around that size they are sold as 60-80cm or 80-100cm. Would the larger size be better as more in line with 3ft? Scots plants (as recommended on here) unfortunately only have 40-60cm available this year and it's hard to find 80-100cm bareroot anywhere.
Also is rootgrow worth it? Haven't seen much mentioned about it on here. I have BFB already to plant with them as per the advice here.
Thanks
Hi everyone,
Looking for some help with my newly planted Laurels and after reading every single post in this thread, I just wanted to run my plan past you guys, so ensure I’m doing the right thing.
Background…
What I’ve learnt so far (from this thread and in general)….
Day of planting (6 weeks ago)
Today
I watered them once a week, every week for the first 3 weeks, then when the weather got bad (very windy and constantly raining) I stopped watering, through fear over watering them. But I think the wind has made them lean forward rather then staying straight and upright.
Close up this what they look like, on each one there are branches where the leaves have completely dried up
So heres my plan….
Regarding cutting them #scared…
about 2foot off so that I can retain some security (it’s a main road) but also give them a chance to settle/grow.
All help greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.
Naina x
Beech would have been better - or the Pyracantha mentioned, or something like Cotoneaster. They can all be kept tight and with very little attention.
It's virtually impossible to overwater laurel, but the site will tend to be very dry, so a plant which can cope with that would have been a better choice. Escallonia for example, although the others will also cope with drier conditions once established.
Perhaps you could dig them up and re sell as mentioned by @Ditsy. Would that be possible for you?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...