Bay laurel
Laurus nobilis
Glossy evergreen of the stockpot — its scent is said to deter weevils and moths.
- Type
- Herb · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Watering
- Low
- Soil
- Fertile, well-drained
- Feeding
- A slow-release feed in spring, and a monthly liquid feed for pots.
- USDA zones
- 8a–10b
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- June
- Pruning
- Shape it with pruners in midsummer — it takes to topiary well.
- Overwintering
- Shelter it from severe frost, and wrap containers through winter.
- Plant out
- at the last spring frost
- First harvest
- 90 days after the last spring frost
- Harvest ends
- 14 days after the first fall frost
- Mar–Mar Spring Growth
- Mar–Jun Harvest
- Jun–Oct Flowering
- Oct–Dec Growing
- Jan–Mar Growing
- Plant spacing
- 4 ft 11 in
- In-row spacing
- 4 ft 11 in
- Between rows
- 6 ft 7 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Woody and fibrous
- Working depth
- 12–24 in
- Can reach
- 3 ft down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 10–13 ft across, about 1.5–2× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 20 in of soil
A shallow woody framework with the fine feeding roots in the leaf litter above it. Those feeders are mostly under the outer half of the canopy rather than against the stem, which is where water and feed should go.
The habit is Bay laurel’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- Cats and dogs
- Recorded toxic
Recorded as toxic to cats and dogs by ASPCA.
- When
- As a slow-growing evergreen, bay can be picked in any month of the year; the leaves are most aromatic in mid–late summer when that season's growth has matured. There is no urgency to time of day, though dry foliage is preferable for storing.
- What to look for
- Choose fully mature leaves — deep glossy green, leathery, and stiff — rather than the paler, soft new growth, which is less aromatic and wilts limply. A mature leaf snapped in half releases a strong balsamic scent.
- How to harvest
- Pluck individual leaves by hand or snip small sprigs with secateurs, spreading your picking around the shrub so no branch is stripped bare. Harvesting doubles as light pruning; on a young plant take only a few leaves at a time until it is well established.
- How often
- Pick as needed year-round — the demand of a household kitchen is trivial to even a modest bush. Heavier cutting for shaping is best done in late spring and gives a bonus bulk harvest for drying.
- Storing the crop
- Fresh leaves keep for weeks in the fridge, but bay is the rare herb that is genuinely better dried: press leaves flat between boards or trays in a warm airy place for 1–2 weeks until brittle but still green. Dried leaves keep their flavor in an airtight jar for about a year — far longer than the shop-bought dust suggests.
- Psyllids Bay sucker
- Scale insects Immobile brown or white bumps fixed to stems and leaf undersides, sucking sap and weakening growth. Wipe off with a damp cloth or dab with horticultural soap; watch for the sooty mold that follows.
- Leaf spot Brown or black spots that spread and merge in wet weather, sometimes with yellow halos. Pick off affected leaves, clear fallen ones, and water at the base.
- Frost damage Soft new growth and open flowers blackened by late frosts. Fleece on cold nights, avoid planting in frost pockets, and resist cutting damage away until frosts pass.
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Scale insects
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
Rosemary, Thyme, Sage
Good neighbors
Victors in ancient Greece and Rome were crowned with wreaths of bay laurel.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com