Prunus l. 'Rotundifolia' 60cm-80cm

Prunus laurocerasus 'Rotundifolia' common cherry Laurel is the fastest-growing and most popular non-conifer evergreen hedging plant in Ireland. Proud holder of the RHS Award of Garden Merit, this immensely vigorous multi-stemmed shrub is favored for creating privacy boundaries and windbreaks at a lower cost than almost any other evergreen broadleaf. While its sibling 'Genolia' grows strictly vertically and 'Otto Luyken' remains dwarf, the classic 'Rotundifolia' grows into a grand, bushy, and wide-spreading fortress of glossy foliage.

Key Features 

• Size & Growth: Grows as a massive, bushy, and upright multi-stemmed shrub. Left entirely unpruned, it easily matures into a large, dense tree reaching 4 to 6 metres in height with an expansive width. 
• Rapid Growth Rate: Famously the fastest-growing non-conifer evergreen hedge, shooting up by 30 to 60 cm (1 to 2 feet) per year when young, making it highly cost-effective for instant screening. 
• Rounded Polished Foliage: True to its cultivar name 'Rotundifolia', its large, leathery, and oblong leaves are distinctly broader and more rounded at the edges than other laurel varieties. They feature a pale underside and a striking, high-gloss dark green top layer that reflects sunlight to visually brighten shaded landscapes. 
• Flowers: In mid-to-late spring, April to May, established hedges produce numerous upright, 5-to-12 cm long spikes of small, heavily fragrant white flowers. 
• Fruit: Following spring pollination, clusters of green, cherry-like fruits form, which gradually ripen from a bright red into a shiny, glossy black hue by autumn. 
• Toxicity: All parts of the plant, most notably the leaves, stems, and internal fruit seeds, contain cyanogenic glycosides and are highly toxic if ingested by humans, dogs, cats, and livestock.

Growing Conditions

• Placement: Eminently versatile. It adapts seamlessly from full sun to partial shade, and can comfortably survive in deep, dense shade under established canopy trees.
• Soil: It readily grows in a vast range of soil profiles, from heavy clay to sandy loams. It exhibits an iron-clad preference for moist, moderately fertile, and free-draining ground.
• Soil Restrictions: Strictly cannot tolerate waterlogged or permanently boggy ground. Furthermore, it readily becomes pale and sickly with yellowing of the leaves if forced into poor, shallow chalk or highly alkaline soils. For chalky spots, Portuguese laurel is highly recommended instead.
• Hardiness & Windbreaks: Fully winter-hardy across Ireland, comfortably deflecting severe winter temperatures down to -20°C. Because of its elastic, tough wood, it acts as an excellent windbreak, filtering fast-moving gales and reducing regional turbulence.
• Pruning & Maintenance: Best maintained by clipping once a year in spring or late summer using selective hand secateurs. Avoid broad mechanical hedge trimmers, as they slice cleanly through the oversized leaves, leaving ragged, brown-edged scars across the canopy. It has an incredible ability to be hard-pruned straight back into old bare wood, regenerating a completely fresh green screen within a single growing season.

Wildlife Value

• Pollinator Support: The long, pollen-heavy spring flower spikes serve as an excellent nectar larder. They draw in busy honeybees, bumblebees, and emerging butterflies at a time when other wild food supplies are sparse.
• The Avian Larder: While highly poisonous to mammals, the dark autumn berries are entirely harmless to birds. They are aggressively scavenged as a rich energy resource by blackbirds, song thrushes, robins, and starlings.
• Year-Round Cover: Because 'Rotundifolia' maintains a thick, dense weave of rigid branches and oversized leaves through the winter, it provides supreme physical nesting shelter and predator armor. Birds favor its dense interior to construct secure nests sheltered from harsh wind, driving rain, and birds of prey.
• Invasive Warning (Ecological Trade-off): Due to its incredible resilience and competitive root system, cherry laurel can rapidly escape garden lines via root suckers or bird-dropped seeds, easily invading wild woodlands. When its heavy, thick leaves drop, they decay slowly and shade out the ground completely, altering the soil chemistry to form localized "dead zones" that choke out native bluebells and woodland flora. For this reason, groups like the RHSI urge gardeners to keep it strictly controlled within domestic spaces.