Common Laurel Hedge Plants (Cherry Laurel)

Common Laurel hedge plants (Prunus Laurocerasus Rotundifolia), also known as Cherry Laurel, is a Hopes Grove Nurseries best seller! It has large, glossy leaves that are dark green, and if untrimmed it will produce fragrant white flowers followed by red berries.

You can view our full range of Cherry Laurel hedge plants below, or scroll further down the page for full information and our expert advice on growing and caring for Common Laurel hedge plants.

Step 1: Choose Your Root Type

Step 2: Choose Size and Quantity

Bare Root Hedging

These are field grown plants, lifted during the dormant season (normally November-April) and delivered ready for planting without any soil on the roots. The most cost-effective way to plant a new hedge.

Rootball Hedging

Beautiful bushy plants grown in our fields for several years, they are lifted in season (October-Early May) with the immediate root ball which is wrapped in hessian for protection. Strong plants giving instant impact at moderate cost.

Potted Hedging

We deliver these plants to you in the pots they are grown in, because there is no root disturbance they can delivered and planted all year round with excellent results.

Laurel Common Bare Root Hedging 1.5-2ft 40/60cm

  • 2 year old

  • Plant(s) per metre: 3
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £90 - Learn More

1 + 10 + 50 + 250 +
£5.51£2.76 £5.46£2.74 £5.39£2.70 £5.34£2.68

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Bare Root Hedging 2-3ft 60/80cm

  • 2 year old

  • Plant(s) per metre: 3
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £90 - Learn More

1 + 10 + 50 + 250 +
£6.71£3.36 £6.59£3.30 £6.47£3.24 £6.35£3.18

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Rootball Hedging 3.5-4ft 100/125cm

  • Bushy

  • Plant(s) per metre: 2
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

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1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£29.99£15.00 £29.99£15.00 £28.79£14.40 £28.79£14.40

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Rootball Hedging 4-5ft 125/150cm

  • Bushy

  • Plant(s) per metre: 2
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £420 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£53.99£27.00 £53.99£27.00 £52.79£26.40 £52.79£26.40

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Rootball Hedging 6-6.5ft 175/200cm

  • Bushy

  • Plant(s) per metre: 1-2
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £420 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£95.99£48.00 £94.79£47.40 £93.59£46.80 £92.39£46.20

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Rootball Hedging 10/12ft 300/350cm

  • 120-140cm wide premium plant

  • Plant(s) per metre: 1
  • Minimum order quantity: 10

Free delivery on orders over £420 - Learn More

10 + 25 + 100 +
£779.99 £719.99 £659.99

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Rootball Hedging 12/14ft 350/400cm

  • 120-140cm wide premium plant

  • Plant(s) per metre: 1
  • Minimum order quantity: 10

Free delivery on orders over £420 - Learn More

10 + 25 + 100 +
£1,079.99 £959.99 £899.99

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Potted Hedging 8/16in 20/40cm

  • in 9cm pots

  • Plant(s) per metre: 4-6
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £90 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£3.59 £3.35 £3.23 £3.11

In stock

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Potted Hedging 1.5-2ft 40/60cm

  • in 2 litre pots

  • Plant(s) per metre: 3-4
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £90 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£8.39 £8.15 £8.03 £6.59

In stock

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Potted Hedging 2-3ft 60/80cm

  • in 3 litre pots

  • Plant(s) per metre: 3
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £90 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£14.39 £11.75 £11.27 £8.39

In stock

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Potted Hedging 2.5-3.5ft 80/100cm

  • in 3 litre pots

  • Plant(s) per metre: 3
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £90 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£13.19 £12.95 £12.71 £10.19

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Potted Hedging 2.5-3.5ft 80/100cm

  • in 4 litre pots

  • Plant(s) per metre: 2-3
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £420 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£21.35 £20.99 £20.75 £20.39

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Potted Hedging 3-4ft 90/120cm

  • in 4 litre pots

  • Plant(s) per metre: 2-3
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £420 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£22.79£11.40 £22.55£11.28 £22.07£11.04 £21.59£10.80

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Potted Hedging 4-4.5ft 120/140cm

  • in 5 litre pots

  • Plant(s) per metre: 2
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £420 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£25.19£12.60 £24.95£12.48 £24.47£12.24 £23.99£12.00

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Total: £0.00

Laurel Common Potted Hedging 4-5ft 120/150cm

  • in 10 litre pots

  • Plant(s) per metre: 2
  • Minimum order quantity: 1

Free delivery on orders over £420 - Learn More

1 + 5 + 25 + 100 +
£39.59 £39.23 £38.75 £38.39

In stock

Quantity:

Total: £0.00

Our Guaranteed to Grow assurance means you can buy with confidence in the knowledge that all our plants come with a 12 month guarantee as standard.

Product Information

  • Details
  • Delivery

Common Laurel hedge plants are one of our most versatile and popular hedging species, also known as Cherry Laurel. Its Latin name Prunus laurocerasus ‘Rotundifolia’ comes from the large, leathery rounded leaves that are about about twice as long as they are wide, shiny dark green on the top catching the light and a paler green underneath.

in April, Laurel bushes produce large numbers of flower spikes, each one made up of many sweet smelling small white flowers which develop into red and then black fruits that look like cherries – hence the ‘Cherry Laurel’ name.

Common Laurel hedge plants have a moderately fast growth rate at 30cm per year, well cared for Laurels in good soil may grow at twice this rate, especially when the hedge is young. They are easily maintained by trimming once a year in Autumn or Spring.

Cherry Laurel is a true evergreen giving privacy and protection for all twelve months of the year, they are a good choice for boundary hedges to give privacy and weather protection as they can be easily maintained at any height from 120cm (4 feet) up to several metres and we supply them in a wide variety of sizes from just 30cm up to 200cm or more. Laurels are one of the best plants for giving privacy at eye level, this can even be achieved at the time of planting by using our larger potted, root ball or instant hedging plants for immediate screening and privacy.

Common Laurel hedge plants will act as a natural windbreak, filtering the wind unlike a solid barrier such as a fence or wall. They also reduce noise pollution, again by filtering it and like many evergreen hedges they are great for improving air quality by absorbing pollution, especially particulates.

Common Laurel hedge plants are easy to grow, don’t worry too much about your soil as they will grow in most gardens with just two simple exceptions

Very wet soil – where we would recommend you check out our recommended hedges list for wet sites.

Very chalky soil – where the Portuguese Laurel (Prunus lusitanica) makes a great alternative and will grow very well, you can try planting Common Laurels, but they do tend to go very yellow and pale in thin chalky soils.

We have a fabulous selection of Common Laurel hedge plants in a very wide range of sizes all grown on our own family nursery here in Kent.

Bare root Common Laurel hedge plants are the cheapest way to establish your new hedge and are really economical especially if you need a lot of plants, they are grown in our fields and lifted with the soil shaken from the roots. These plants need to be planted within a few days of receipt (so its worth getting the site prepared before they arrive – you can find our preparation and planting guidance here). Bare root plants are available when they are dormant from November-March, the correct time to plant.

Root ball Common Laurel hedge plants are beautiful big bushy plants grown at an extra wide spacing here in our own fields for several years, perfect for instant impact at a comparatively low cost. Our specialist machine lifts them complete with the immediate soil and root system which is wrapped with hessian mesh for protection and sent to you the same day. These gorgeous big bushy plants are available during their natural dormant season from October until April. These should be planted within a few days of receipt.

Pot grown Common Laurel hedge plants are available all year, the main advantage is that there is no root disturbance, so they can be planted at any time and should give 100% success.

Our Cherry Laurel instant hedging is the perfect answer where immediate effect is the overriding consideration, we stock ready trimmed Laurel instant hedges in a range of sizes up to 200cm. These plants are available for planting all year round.

We offer generous quantity discounts for larger quantities (the more you buy the cheaper they are) and delivery is free on most orders over £50 (excluding VAT).

We will send you complete, easy to follow guidance to help you prepare, plant and care for your new hedge by email when you order and also as a weatherproof hard copy actually in with your order.

If you have any other questions about Cherry Laurel hedging or any other hedging plants, then please do call our knowledgeable sales team on 01580 765600 – or take a look at our complete cherry Laurel information at the bottom of this page.

Delivery leadtimes update- March/April 2024

We are working at maximum capacity to fulfil all orders as quickly as possible but owing to unprecedented demand some orders will take longer:

– Orders containing only bare root plants – delivery is currently within 5-7 days

– All other orders – delivery is currently within 2-3 weeks

Delivery is free for most orders above our free delivery thresholds, these are displayed above our prices in the product listings and summarized below. If you don’t need that many plants it’s not a problem, you can choose to pay our delivery charge and only order what you need.

Delivery is convenient – no signature is required so you don’t need to wait in, we will leave your parcel in the safe place that you nominate.

Delivery is fast – because we pick orders daily from our own growing beds your plants only travel the small hop to our packing shed before being sent to you, they are usually delivered within 3-7 days.

Delivery is reliable
– we have been selling and delivering Hedging Plants to our customers nationwide since 1992. We have a lot of experience in packing them safely and only use tried and tested delivery partners.

Smaller Plants (Parcel Delivery)

LocationOrder ValuePrice
UK Mainland excluding HighlandsUp to £90£15.00
UK Mainland excluding HighlandsOver £90Free
Scottish Highlands and Isle of WightAll orders£24.00

Heavy Plants (Pallet Delivery)

LocationOrder ValuePrice
UK Mainland excluding HighlandsUp to £420£72.00
UK Mainland excluding HighlandsOver £420Free
Scottish Highlands and Isle of WightAll orders£72.00

Tall Plants 2.5m+ (Specialist Delivery)

LocationOrder ValuePrice
UK Mainland excluding HighlandsUnder £1800Please call us
UK Mainland excluding HighlandsOver £1800Free
Scottish Highlands and Isle of WightAll ordersNot available

Exceptions to our delivery charges are Scottish Highland and Isle of Wight delivery areas where we need to charge a little extra to cover the cost of deliveries to these outlying areas. We don’t currently delivery to other offshore addresses including Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.

Tall plants over 2.5 metres have to be delivered by our own specialised transport, our delivery area is limited to mainland England and Wales only.

Please note there is a minimum order value of £50 for orders containing smaller plants and £250 for orders containing heavier plants

Complete delivery information can be viewed on our Delivery Information page

Further Information about Common Laurel Hedge Plants (Cherry Laurel)

Every Laurel hedge variety has different properties, including growth speed – Cherry Laurel is on the quicker side, growing about 30-60cm a year. It’s therefore a great choice of hedging plant if you need height; it can provide shade and full coverage in no time. 

Cherry Laurels are versatile and can be planted in many conditions. They’re happy in full sun or partial shade, and as long as the soil isn’t too chalky, the soil conditions do not matter much either. Do ensure the soil is well-drained, though, as wet conditions can cause many fungal diseases to spread, and your hedge may struggle to thrive. Also, try not to plant your Common Laurel hedges on windy, exposed sites as they would find these challenging conditions. Learn more about Common Laurel hedge planting conditions here.

Alternatives to Common Laurel hedge plants

We grow and stock a complete range of Laurel plants here on our nursery including the Portuguese Laurel, Caucasica Laurel, Compact Laurel and the colourful Spotted Laurel.

If you are looking for something a little different then there are many other popular and reliable species that will make good alternatives including:

You might also find our evergreen hedging page useful, here you can find our entire selection of evergreen hedging species in one place.

Trimming Cherry Laurel hedge plants

The best time to trim a Common Laurel hedge plant is any time during the growing season (avoiding the coldest months of the year so the cut edges don’t get frosted). We recommend trimming in either early Spring (before the Common Laurel hedge is growing) or in Autumn when growth has finished but before the onset of winter, so the cut edges have chance to heal over before the frost.

You can trim your Common Laurel hedge plants 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. It isn’t really necessary, any leaves damaged by hedge trimmers tend to be purely aesthetic, with some browning around the edges.  If you trim in the Spring the new growth covers the cut edges quickly. 

Don’t be afraid of being hard on your Cherry Laurel hedging; by trimming it back ‘tight’ each year you will avoid it becoming wider and wider as time goes, taking up more valuable garden space than is necessary and eventually needing drastic remedial action. Well-treated Common Laurel hedging will show good annual growth and the foliage will be a lustrous, rich deep green. 

Regenerating Old Common Laurel Hedging

We are sometimes asked about large and seemingly hopelessly overgrown Cherry Laurel hedges or trees – customers have asked what they can plant there instead (do they need to replace the soil, etc.) after the old hedge has been dug up and disposed of.

In most cases, there is no need to rip the old hedge out at all. Cherry Laurels can be subjected to the most drastic surgery (right back to bare stumps) and they will regenerate with young green shoots soon after. Especially if the operation is booked for early Spring and is followed with a convalescent feed and mulch. Even the most unpromising woody Common Laurel specimens can be coaxed back to a lustrous display of shiny green foliage within two or three seasons.

Restoration of an overgrown Common Laurel hedge

In order not to cause too much stress to your established laurel hedge, try breaking it down into smaller stages. Start by reducing the height of the Common Laurel hedge plants, then start tackling the sides the following year, spreading the work out over a couple of seasons if you prefer. Doing this piece should allow you to be thorough about removing any dead or diseased wood and ensuring some internal branches are removed to allow good air circulation and keep it drier in damp conditions.

Try and do this in early Spring if possible and remember to give the hedge a good feed and mulch after. You should then start to see the promising new shoots soon after, certainly within two or three months. Rejuvenating old Cherry Laurel hedges can be a very rewarding pastime that may be addressed in one great purge, or ideally spread over several seasons. Either way, you should find these tough evergreen hedging plants remarkably resilient and will give excellent results when cut back hard.

Feeding a Cherry Laurel hedge.

Another question we are frequently asked is what kind of fertiliser is best for Common Laurel plants. Our general rule of thumb is to give it a balanced feed each Spring before growth starts, ideally together with a generous mulch (applied before dry weather) to retain moisture at the roots during the growing season, but the answer also depends on what stage of growth the Common Laurel is at. 

 Before Planting Common Laurel Hedging Plants

When you first plant Common Laurel hedge plants, we always recommend using bone meal, this is a natural organic fertiliser that should be well mixed with the soil. One kilo of bone meal should be enough for approx. 15 metres of Common Laurel hedging plants. We would also strongly recommend using Rootgrow at the time of planting. These naturally occurring native fungi form a symbiotic relationship with your new Laurel plants almost immediately allowing them to develop the large secondary root system necessary for successful growth and establishment without delay.

Rootgrow is an excellent aid to establishing a Laurel hedge

Once Your Cherry Laurel Hedge is Established

We would recommend an annual feed early in the spring with a balanced fertiliser such as our After-plant feed. This is really beneficial to a Cherry Laurel hedge, or any other evergreen, if applied at the same time as a mulch (a layer of moisture retaining material like well-seasoned bark chippings, lawn mowings or garden compost).

 When the Common Laurel Hedging is Mature

Older Common Laurel hedge plants can sometimes run out of steam a little, making very little annual growth and looking rather pale and chlorotic. Assuming there is no obvious cause for this (like a new concrete driveway or extension encroaching on the root run) then we would recommend a balanced specialist fertiliser to encourage both root and top growth together with magnesium to improve the leaf colour. Our Seaweed Bio-stimulant is ideal, if the root run is very dry, we would recommend gently loosening the top few centimetres with a garden fork and then watering very well after application. This action should freshen up your Laurel hedge within a few weeks, especially if undertaken in spring or early summer.

Common Diseases for Cherry Laurel Hedges

Cherry Laurels are a popular choice among gardeners because they’re relatively trouble-free, a strong and robust hedging species resistant to lots of pests and diseases, especially once fully established. Here are a couple of diseases to look out for, but note that none of the problems below are serious and the hedge can naturally recover from most them without particularly harsh intervention.

Leaf drop

Freshly planted Common Laurel hedge plants can ‘moult’ some of their many leaves after planting. This is more common if the weather is very harsh during winter, or turns very warm in the spring when a new hedge is planted late in the season. Leaf loss is a stress response to conserve water. If the new plants are kept well-watered and have been planted in suitable soil they should re-leaf soon after the start of the growing season, once the roots have become established. Leaf drop can be minimised by good soil preparation, sufficient watering after planting, mulching and the application of Rootgrow will also help the new root system to establish much more quickly.

Frost damage

Common Laurel hedge plants can suffer from frost damage in Autumn, Winter and Spring.

Autumn frost damage only occurs if the plants are growing very late in the season and the soft growth does not have time to ‘harden up’ and lignify before the first hard frost. This can kill several inches of the soft tips of the new growth turning them brown and necrotic, but is not serious. We do advise that the dead growth is cut off back to healthy undamaged wood to prevent infection from gaining entry to the plants through the dead tissue at a time of year when the weather is cold and damp.

Winter frost damage is often associated with very cold winds leading to the browning of the leaves on exposed parts of the plant. This may be at the edges or completely over the surface of the foliage. These damaged leaves will be moulted in the Spring and fresh new foliage will appear.

Spring frost damage is more common, as with many garden plants this occurs when a late frost comes after the plants have started to grow in the spring. The new growths will often become blackened and will shrivel very quickly. Again, this is not serious as the Common Laurel hedging plants will make new secondary growths within a few weeks as the weather is becomes warmer and the days get longer.

Powdery Mildew

This is a fungal disease that may be caused by one of two types (Podosphaera tridactyla and Podosphaera pannosa), both appear as a white powdery coating on the leaf surface of the younger growth at first. As the fungus develops the underlying leaf tissue will turn brown and die and the young leaves will be left with irregular holes, brown patches and ‘tatty’ edges to them. The symptoms of this fungus make the plants look more like insects have eaten the new leaves than suffering from disease.

Powdery mildew usually develops due to weather conditions that encourage it, it can make the plants look rather unsightly, but it is not serious and when environmental conditions change the plants will grow out of it. The Common Laurel hedge plants can be trimmed to remove the damaged leaves, or you could give the plants a spray with a suitable Mildew fungicide approved for use on ornamental plants, but neither is really necessary.

Leaf damage to Cherry Laurel caused by Powdery mildew

Powdery mildew is often a disease seen on younger Cherry Laurel plants that are growing very strongly, or very old and overgrown plants that have been cut back very hard and are making strong new growth which is susceptible. As time passes and the growth pattern settles down, so too will the disease.

Leaf spot and Shot hole diseases

These are two diseases with similar symptoms, while both can make the new growth of plants look unsightly, neither is serious and the plants will grow through the problem over time.

Fungal shot hole of Laurels

Infections of leaf spot fungi (Stigmina carpophila and Eupropolella britannica) result in brown spots on the leaves, over time the Common Laurel hedge plants will bring the infection under control causing the healthy and diseased parts of the leaf to separate resulting in the centres of these spots falling out. This leaves behind a series of irregular holes in the foliage referred to as ‘shot holes’ (because they look as if the damage is caused by shotgun pellets.) The fungal spores are spread and dispersed by rain

Bacterial shot hole disease of Laurels

Bacterial shot hole disease is caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae and is spread by wind and rain causing the bacteria to enter the leaves through either damaged tissues or the natural leaf openings (stomata). The disease can be identified by light brown lesions that gradually become larger, unlike the fungal shot hole disease the lesions have a yellow halo around the edge. Again, as the plant gets the infection under control, the infected and healthy parts of the leaf separate, and the centre drops out to leave irregular holes.

Bacterial Shot hole disease of Cherry Laurel caused by Pseudomonas

Wet conditions will encourage the development and spread of both these shot hole diseases, conversely when drier conditions return the infection will be very likely to clear up without any further intervention. If either of these diseases is affecting part of your Common Laurel hedge it is a wise precaution to sterilise tools after trimming and to avoid composting any diseased foliage that could be a future source of infection.

 

Common Laurel Hedge Plants (Cherry Laurel) Questions

Other Types of Laurel Hedging