Laurus nobilis - Bay Leaf, Sweet Bay

Easy to care, robust and elegant - what else could you expect from a pot- and winter garden- plant? Evergreen Bay Leaf - symbol for mediterranean way of life- satisfies all these claims easily. It gets along with sunny and hot situations as well with shade. It grows by nature very compact and moreover tolerates pruning very well, so that it can be clipped to accurate shapes like a cone, pyramid, spiral or as a standard. The cultivation of such topiary, however, takes a long time. To get a crown of just 50 cm in diameter may often take 10 years or more. Our advice: if you prune these valuable plants clip each shoot separately to make sure not to cut through the leaves which would cause dried out edges. The leaves you clip off the plant you can now use as fresh or dried herb in the kitchen or -in a small sack- as an addition to your bath. Due to the high content of dry- refreshing, essential oils, most deseases and insect pests are no problem for this evergreen mediterranean plant. If you leave Bay Leaf unpruned you can enjoy many yellow flowers in spring, followed by black, round fruits. Bay Leaf tolerates varying supply of water, although it prefers a constantly humid soil. During winter, however, it cannot stay outside. You should winter it in the house where it can be placed in almost any spot as long as it is cool. It doesn’t need a lot of light, so it can even be wintered in a cellar room, staircase, foyer or similar place.

Quality: aromatic leaves; can be used as kitchen herb; evergreen; very suitable for topiary; tolerates almost any light situation; very compact growth habit; easy to winter zu überwintern
Verwendung: in pots from March to November outside on balcony, terrace in a patio and in the garden - during winter in a frost-free room indoor; all-year in an unheated greenhouse