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Lauris nobilis (Bay tree)

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Helpful articles

External privacy screens. External privacy screens began to appear in Australian residential and commercial building during the 1950's and 1960's, as a direct result of high density living and higher incomes. For more information and some examples read this article.

Microclimates in your garden. Did you know your whole garden may be a microclimate that allows you to grow plants that would not thrive on the other side of the street? Read this article to learn more.

Grevilleas. Learn all about grevilleas from native plant expert Angus Stewart.

Top ten native plants. Native plant specialist Angus Stewart's top ten native Australian plants.

Plant description

laurus nobilis bay tree

laurus nobilis leaf

The bay tree (Laurus nobilis) is also known as sweet bay, true laurel and Grecian laurel. It is native to the Mediterranean region, and has a long history in cultivation stretching back to ancient Greece and Rome where it was known as the laurel tree and provided decorative headpieces for the celebrities of the day.

There are many other plants that are also called bay, or laurel, and can be poisonous, so make sure that you are getting Laurus nobilis if you want the true bay for its herbal properties.

The bay tree is evergreen, and has attractive, glossy green leaves. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. The flowers are small and cream-green. The berries are small and dark. It is a dense grower, making it useful as a screen or hedge plant.

Bay trees are adaptable and easy to grow. They are very pest and disease resistant and while quite slow growing they are also generally very hardy. They will not tolerate frost when young but are frost-hardy when mature. Bay Trees can be planted in the ground and can reach over 15m tall if grown as a tree. They make perfect pot plants as the leaves have a shiny surface and wavy margin that gives them an excellent ornamental quality, and the plant can be pruned into a manageable small shrub when grown as a container plant. It is an incredibly versatile tree, and can even be pruned into a topiary or hedge and with regular care and maintenance it can be kept at your desired height and grown as a shrub.

It can be planted in full sun or partial shade. Bay trees are salt, drought and wind tolerant. For optimum growth, though, give some feeding with a good general purpose fertiliser or well rotted manure.

Though they have few pests and diseases, they can be attacked by scale. This is best treated with white oil if the leaves are being used in the kitchen. Be sure to spray under the leaves and on the stems to kill the scale. Fungal rots can also be troublesome in wet conditions.

It is best to obtain a mature plant from your local nursery, especially if you want to begin harvesting leaves immediately, as it takes a long time to grow from seed, and can be difficult to propagate from cuttings.

How to use bay leaf

In order to increase the amount of leaves available for harvesting it is a good idea to pinch out the growing tips during the warmer months of the year when the plant is producing new growth. This will make the plant bushier so that picking off the older leaves for the kitchen will not be as noticeable.

Harvest as needed. A few twigs or small branches placed in your pantry or linen cupboard will help repel common pests like pantry moths.

The aromatic oils in the leaf are extremely useful for adding extra flavour to stews, casseroles and various meat dishes. It is often used in Mediterranean cooking, such as pasta sauces. The culinary classic, bouquet garni, has bay leaves, parsley and thyme tied together.

Usually whole leaves are used and although dried foliage is the most common method of use, the fresh leaves provide a much better result as a significant amount of the oils are lost when the leaves are dried. Bay leaves have anti-bacterial properties.

Further reading: Hedges and Pruning a hedge in 7 steps (articles written by horticulturalist Angus Stewart).

Additional plant information

Flowers

Flower colour: Cream
Flowering season: spring

Plant size

Maximum height: 18 metres
Minimum height: not specified

Maximum width: 10 metres
Minimum width: not specified

Sunlight, frost & salt tolerance

This plant will tolerate full or partial sunlight.
Medium frost tolerance.
Plant is salt tolerant.

Fauna attracting?

Not specified.

Climate

This plant species will grow in the following climates: cool, temperate, subtropical, tropical.

Soil types & conditions

Loam: moist, well-drained.

Clay: moist, well-drained.

Sand: moist.

Soil pH: 6-8

Diseases

Fungal rots in wet conditions

Pests

Scale

Miscellaneous information

Planting season: Any.

Types of fertiliser: Good general purpose fertiliser.

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