Where to Find English Laurel Plants for Sale

English laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is an excellent evergreen shrub for hedges, screens, and borders Its glossy green foliage provides year-round interest, and its spring flowers add seasonal appeal If you’re looking to add English laurels to your garden, you may be wondering where to find them for sale. Luckily, there are several options for purchasing these versatile shrubs.

Online Retailers Offer Convenience

One of the easiest ways to buy English laurel plants is through online retailers. Shopping online gives you access to a huge selection without even leaving your home It also allows you to purchase laurels grown in other parts of the country if your local nurseries don’t carry them

Popular online sellers like Wilson Bros Gardens, Brighter Blooms, and Nature Hills Nursery offer English laurels in a variety of sizes. For example, Wilson Bros Gardens sells them in one gallon, three gallon, and five gallon pots ranging from two to over six feet tall. The larger sizes allow you to make an instant impact in your garden.

Online buying provides other advantages too. Retailers ship laurel plants directly to your door, saving you the hassle of transporting them yourself. Many also guarantee their plants for a period of time after delivery. So if you receive a damaged or unhealthy plant, you can get a replacement.

Visit Local Independent Nurseries

Another excellent option for finding English laurels is shopping at local independent nurseries. These small businesses offer several benefits over large chains. Their staff often have extensive horticultural knowledge to help you pick the right plants. They may also carry more unusual selections.

Independent nurseries that grow their own stock can provide laurels that are already acclimated to your area. And purchasing plants locally reduces the environmental impact of long distance shipping.

The drawback is that selection is more limited based on what these nurseries choose to grow. If you’re looking for a specific laurel variety, be sure to call ahead to see if they have it. But visiting local nurseries is a great way to find healthy plants and support local businesses.

Check Big Box Stores for Convenience

For sheer convenience, big box home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowes can’t be beat. Their garden centers offer a decent selection of English laurels at affordable prices. The plants may not be locally grown, but big box retailers have the buying power to source them from major growers around the country.

Keep in mind that the staff at these stores often don’t have much horticultural training. You may need to do your own research to pick the right laurel for your site conditions and needs. Also inspect plants closely for good health and form before purchasing.

Big box stores do provide convenience for one stop shopping. You can pick up your laurel plants along with all the soil amendments, tools, and other products you need in the same trip.

Order in Bulk from Nursery Wholesalers

If you need a large quantity of English laurels for a sizable hedge or screen, consider ordering in bulk directly from a nursery wholesaler. Wholesalers grow and ship plants in large volumes to retailers and landscape professionals.

Many will also work with home gardeners, provided you meet their minimum order sizes and pick up the plants yourself. This option provides the cheapest per-unit pricing, but you’ll need adequate space to store the plants until you’re ready for planting.

Wholesalers like Monrovia, McKay Nursery, and Spring Meadow Nursery sell English laurel liner plants in bulk that you can grow to maturity. If you’re patient, this can provide big savings.

Evaluate Your Options

There are pros and cons to each source for English laurel plants. Assess your specific needs in terms of plant size, variety, budget, and convenience. For a few plants, going local is best. For big projects, a wholesale grower may provide the volume discount you need.

And don’t forget to check for availability as laurels do sell out. Order early online or pre-shop at nurseries to secure the number and size of plants you require. With so many options available, you can certainly find attractive English laurel specimens to enhance your landscape.

English Laurel Plant Features

Now that you know where to buy them, let’s look at what makes English laurels such outstanding landscape plants. There are several reasons why they are so popular.

Attractive Foliage

English laurel is valued primarily for its beautiful, deep green foliage. The leaves are oval, leathery, and glossy. They resemble bay leaves, giving English laurel an almost tropical look.

Laurels hold their foliage densely right down to ground level. So you get a bushy plant without unsightly bare stems showing. The leaves stay evergreen all year long too, providing permanent structure and privacy.

Fast Growing

Another great quality is that English laurels grow relatively fast, up to 2 feet per year. This rapid growth allows you to quickly establish a mature looking hedge or screen. Spacing small starter plants just a few feet apart will create a tight, full planting in just a couple of seasons.

Their vigorous growth habit also makes laurels easy to maintain. Annual shearing or shaping keeps them in bounds with little effort. But left unpruned, these shrubs can reach impressive proportions.

Fragrant Spring Flowers

While valued mostly for their foliage, English laurels also produce abundant spring flowers. Each cluster of tiny white blossoms resembles a candlestick. They emit a pleasing almond-like fragrance that perfumes the air.

Bees adore the nectar-rich blooms. After flowering, English laurels develop small black berries. So they provide multiple seasons of interest in the garden.

Versatile Use

With their dense, evergreen foliage and fast growth habit, it’s easy to see why English laurels are perfect for hedges and screens. But they also make beautiful foundation plants, specimen shrubs, and background plants in borders.

Their large size must be taken into account when siting them. But used properly, English laurels offer versatility unlike any other shrub.

Low Maintenance Care

Once established, English laurels are quite easy to maintain. They require little supplemental watering except during periods of drought. And they are relatively pest and disease free.

Apply a balanced slow release fertilizer in early spring and give them a hard pruning immediately after flowering. That’s all the care they really need to thrive. Their tough, hardy nature makes them ideal for beginning gardeners.

Choosing the Best Variety

English laurel is a broad term that encompasses a number of Prunus laurocerasus cultivars. By selecting the right variety for your site and needs, you’ll get the best results from these plants. Here are some top choices to consider:

‘Otto Luyken’

This compact cultivar only grows to about 4-5 feet tall and wide. Its slow growth makes it perfect for low foundation hedges. ‘Otto Luyken’ features dense foliage and fragrant white flower spikes in spring.

‘Schipkaensis’

Also relatively compact at 6 feet tall and wide, ‘Schipkaensis’ is a little faster growing than ‘Otto Luyken’. It produces masses of flowers in early spring followed by showy red berries.

‘Zabeliana’

For a medium sized laurel, ‘Zabeliana’ is a great choice. It reaches 8 feet tall and wide at maturity. Dark green leaves provide great screen and hedge capabilities on this vigorous, hardy variety.

‘Herbergii’

‘Herbergii’ shows off the size potential of English laurels, growing up to 12 feet tall. But it retains a neat, narrow habit of just 3-4 feet wide. Fantastic for tall privacy hedges in tight spaces.

‘Castlewellan’

This large, wide-spreading cultivar matures at up to 15 feet tall and 12 feet wide. Its big size requires ample room but makes a dramatic specimen. ‘Castlewellan’ also produces showy red berries.

Caring for English Laurels

English laurels are exceptionally easy to grow. But providing a few basic care measures will keep your plants looking their best. Here are some tips:

• Select a site with full sun to partial shade and well-draining soil. Laurels will tolerate many soil types.

• Space plants 2-4 feet apart for hedges depending on mature size. Wider spacing is suitable for specimen shrubs.

• Apply 2-4 inches of mulch around the base to conserve moisture and suppress weeds.

• Water weekly during the first year, then only occasionally through drought periods.

• Prune annually in late winter to shape and stimulate new growth. Hard pruning immediately after flowering controls size.

• Apply slow release granular fertilizer each spring to support growth and flowering.

• Monitor for scale insects, leaf spots, and other minor pests. Control as needed. Healthy laurels have few issues.

Designing With English Laurels

Now that you know where to get English laurels and how to care for them, it’s time to think about how to use them in your landscape