Articles

Laurel hedging articles

Articles on growing, pruning and using laurel, and on picking the right boundary for your garden.

Tool Guides

Best Secateurs and Shears for Laurel and Bay

Hand tools give laurel and bay a far neater finish than a hedge trimmer. The secateurs, shears and saw we'd buy, and which job each…

Laurel Varieties

Spotted laurel isn't a true laurel, but it thrives in dry shade where laurel struggles. How to grow it, prune it, use it as a…

Laurel Varieties

Rotundifolia, Caucasica, Novita, Etna, Otto Luyken or Genolia? How the main cherry laurel varieties differ, and which suits which kind of hedge.

Tool Guides

Laurel stems get woody fast, so a hedge trimmer needs a decent tooth gap. What to look for, and the trimmers we'd buy for big,…

Hedging Advice

Privet makes a neat, narrow front hedge; laurel makes a big evergreen screen. How the two compare on winter cover, speed, width, trimming and cost.

Hedging Advice

Laurel gives you a screen quickly; yew gives you the classic formal hedge, slowly. How the two compare on speed, cost, width, soil, upkeep and…

Hedging Advice

Laurel or griselinia? Griselinia shines by the sea, laurel inland and in shade. How they compare on wind, salt, frost, speed, looks and upkeep.

Hedging Advice

Cherry laurel or Photinia Red Robin? How they compare on speed, colour, privacy, shade, trimming and cost, and when a mix of the two makes…

Laurel Problems

Laurel is one of the few hedges you can cut back to bare stumps and expect to regrow. When to do it, how far to…

Laurel Problems

Brown leaves after cutting laurel are usually sliced leaf edges, scorch or frost on late regrowth. How to tell which, and how to trim without…

Laurel Problems

Why laurel hedges go leggy at the base, and how to thicken them up again by reshaping, hard pruning, layering branches and filling gaps.

Laurel Problems

Small round holes in cherry laurel leaves are usually shothole. What causes it, how to keep it in check, and the pests that leave similar…