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| 24th June 2010 | 24th June 2010 | |||
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A small tree that is usually seen as an overgrown shrub. It has better leaves than Cherry Laurel and is less
invasive. I planted a few in the usual places without ever feeling very excited until this one was left
lying around in a pot after the greenhouse it once occupied was removed. In the dappled shade of some old trees it has
become a beautiful small tree, flowering profusely in mid-summer. Unfortunately this one was never planted, it just rooted threough the holes in the pot and romped away. It couldn't go on forever and it has now been removed (I leant against it and waited for it to snap) and the ground cleared. Trees and Shrubs Online says: "Native of Spain and Portugal; in cultivation 1648. In all but the coldest parts of Great Britain the Portugal laurel is one of the handsomest and most effective of evergreens. It should be grown as isolated specimens, especially in thinly wooded parts of the grounds. Although it is chiefly valued for the luxuriance of its rich green lustrous foliage, it has some merit as a flowering shrub, for in June it produces an extraordinary profusion of long, slender racemes, whose only defect is that the flowers are rather dull." |
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