Portuguese Laurel Hedging Plants

Portuguese laurels are slower growing than common laurels but not by a huge amount. The Portuguese laurel has smaller and darker green leaves which contrast beautifully with the almost plum-coloured stems. Portuguese Laurels have a more compact growth habit to common laurel and are more tolerant of chalky soils. Both common Laurel and Portuguese laurels produce small fragrant white flowers in late Spring which turn into reddish berries in the Summer and ripen to dark purple or black in Autumn. Both varieties of laurel will provide some interest for wildlife with the flowers attracting pollinators and the fruits a source of food for birds. Less flowers and berries are produced when the plants are maintained as a hedge and frequently trimmed in the growing season.

Portuguese Laurels hedges will grow at around 30-50cm per year on average. This is slower than some of the other types of hedging that we grow and sell but still a reasonable rate enabling us to grow a 6 foot Portuguese Laurel hedge here on the nursery in about 4 years. The desirable feature of using a slower growing species for your hedge is that once the desired hedge height is reached, it will require a lot less work to keep the hedge looking tidy.

The speed of growth will vary depending on things such as how well the ground is prepared prior to planting, whether the planting site has been sufficiently decompacted. Have the plants been planted correctly and subsequent aftercare, feeding and watering of the plants.

Portuguese Laurel Hedges can ultimately grow up to 12 metres high if left unchecked. However, typically, they will grow up to around 3 or 4 metres high when maintained as a hedge. A Portuguese Laurel Hedge can be maintained anywhere from 1 to 4 metres high.

Our answer to spacing of the plants is always time over budget. The spacing of plants in a Portuguese laurel hedge really is dependent on the size of plants that are being planted as well as the time you are prepared to wait for the hedge to grow and also budget restraints. If using our 10 litre potted plants we would recommend planting at 3 plants per metre. This is the same planting density that we use for our Instant Portuguese Laurel hedges grown in 90 litre troughs. This way the plants are just about touching when planted, so giving them space to grow into, but not too much that you are left with big gaps in the hedge. If using bigger plants such as rootballed Portuguese laurels then these can be spaced further apart, usually at 2 per metre to the point where they are just touching. We give a recommendation of the planting density for each plant size on the website. Our recommendations are based on planting at a density that the plants will touch after 1 full growing season. This is only a guideline and please use more plants to reduce this timescale or less plants per metre if you have time to wait.

Most of the Hedging plants that we sell will require the same planting procedures. We give advice on how to plant a hedge here on our website. https://hedginguk.com/hedging-advice/how-to-plant-a-hedge/

We recommend trimming a Portuguese laurel hedge at least once a year. For formal hedges that have been trimmed quite tightly and to maintain nice straight edges, then extra trimming will be required. Portuguese laurels will also tolerate hard pruning if the hedge has grown bigger than desired.

The trimming and pruning of Portuguese Laurel Hedging is best in the Spring before the plants start growing again, or in the Autumn when they start to shut down growing for the Winter.

It is possible to use hedge trimmers for trimming your Portuguese laurel hedge. On the nursery we use hedge trimmers at first to get the majority of the trimming done then we follow up with secateurs to tidy up and remove any shredded/ damaged leaves caused by the hedge trimmers. This reduces the chances of the plants getting any problems through the damaged leaves but also looks better and much tidier.

We would recommend feeding your Portuguese laurel hedging at least once a year. We generally wait until we have trimmed them in the Spring and as the new growth begins to emerge, give them a feed. We use slow releasing feeds such as ‘Growmore’, as they provide a steady release of nutrients over a longer period of time. On the nursery we usually give the plants a second feed in late Spring and at least one feed in the summer.

Portuguese Laurels hedges will be happy in most reasonably fertile soils and will even tolerate chalky soils. They will not tolerate waterlogged soils. Portuguese Laurel hedges will grow in full sun and partial shade and will even tolerate heavy shade, although they will grow quicker the more sun they receive.

Portuguese laurel hedging plants grow at a moderate speed and therefore require less maintenance than faster growing species of hedging plants. They have few problems and are one of the most popular forms of hedging we grow.

Portuguese Laurel hedges are usually very tolerant of hard pruning and it is possible to cut a Portuguese laurel back to a mere stump and it will often regrow with vigour. The best time for hard pruning in our experience is in Late Winter/ Early Spring. (Once the frost have stopped but before the plants have started growing again) This way, the new energy produced by the Portuguese Laurel plants as they start to grow again in Spring is concentrated at the site of the pruning and by the end of the summer you can hardly see where they were cut back to in the first place. We would normally follow any hard pruning with a spray with a general fungicide and a controlled feed at the emergence of the new shoots coming through.

Portuguese Laurel Hedges like common laurels can also suffer from a bacterial infection known as Pseudomonas syringae or ‘Shothole’, where little holes resembling that of a wound caused by shotgun pellets leave lots of little holes in the leaves. Although this can look unsightly causing reason for concern it is not usually fatal to the plants and they do usually recover from it. The bacteria spreads from the wounds on one leaf to another through water droplets. For this reason, if the problem is caught early and is only minor the spread of the bacteria can be slowed by removing any affected leaves. Any affected leaves that have fallen to the floor should also be swept up and disposed of.

We grow and sell a range of sizes of Portuguese Laurel Hedging Plants here on the nursery. Starting with potted plants, mainly in 10 litre pots at different heights. Then, we also grow and sell rootballed Portuguese laurel hedging from Autumn, through to early Spring. For more immediate impact, we also grow our Instant Portuguese Laurel Hedges in 90 Litre troughs. The instant hedges come in 1 metre lengths but do require 2 strong people to lift them.

All the Portuguese Laurel hedging plants that we sell are grown outside here on our nursery in Holmeswood, Lancashire producing robust plants that are quick to establish.

The laurels that we sell for hedging such as Portuguese laurel and common laurel, all parts of the plants including leaves and berries are harmful to Humans, Livestock and animals if ingested. If the hedge to be planted is in the vicinity of livestock, pets or very small children where there is a chance that the foliage or berries of the hedge could be eaten by mistake, then we would suggest planting an alternative species of hedging such as Elaeagnus Ebbingei, Griselinia Littoralis or Photinia Red robin which have no toxic effects reported. We grow and sell thousands of Portuguese Laurel plants every year and are not aware of any problems arising from any of our customers after planting a Portuguese laurel hedge in close proximity of either pets or young children. We would however suggest that after pruning your Portuguese laurel hedge that all the material that is cut from the hedge be collected up and disposed of in green waste bins rather than composting at home.