Prunus laurocerasus(new shrub 11)

That looks to me like Prunus laurocerasus...what do others think?

thanks, Karen, I'll look that up

Think the same Fran as Karen. Keep it well in check as it can get a bit of height if it is let go. They can get 20 odd feet high.

wow, Dorjac, would need quite a ladder to get up there!

Thanks for the confirmation, I'll amend the plant name

Our neighbour Steve campaigned to have them cut back along Brooklands Lane near us, as the 20 odd foot growth was obscuring the lighting down this road to a narrow river bridge. After a very wet winter they are on the go again. Part of a corporate planting for Matalan.Prune as soon as flowers start to go over, back to where YOU want it to be. Gardening in a garden soil is more hassle than pots, apart from watering and soil disposal and renewal. Plants in pots languish if neglected and shrubs and trees get tall and leggy if left uncultivated and unpruned and shaped.

I don't want any one plant taking over the space, or even a section of it - no "specimen" superstars, a tapestry of harmony.

I acciddentally posted two copies of this pic (first came up with blank frame and little x in the corner, so I thought I'd done somthing wrong and reposted it. also came up with x. then both appeared. got comments on both, so don't want to delete them)

CottageKaren posted a link on the other pic, this plant is on a "poison plant" list - http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/prunus_laurocerasus.htm

so it might not be here much longer! found Snowberry on that list too, so that might also not get it's lease renewed.

Pots are a pain, but until now I didn't have a chance to compare, not ever having had a garden (still no real basis for comparison, as I've not done much gardening apart from digging the borders and planting bulbs). But watering pots can be a nightmare - I suppose if one has large enough tubs, and terracotta ones, they help retain water. but smaller plastic pots don't!

lol real gardening might be more hassle, but think that goes hand in hand with increased potential and opportunities.

Plants of all descriptions do look sad when neglected, leggy and ungainly - I tend towards the "do little" end of the pruning scale, always worried I'll take off too much, or at the wrong time, and harm the plant.

Tree and shrubs creep up on us gardeners Fran. A mild wet winter like the last one is a real buzz for shrubs and trees. A lot of shrubs can be cut back a lot if it is done at the right moment. Corporate gardeners are 'cloud cutting' now. To do that all the shrubs have to done in one go to get the up and down motion. I expect they are chosen to be able to garden that way. It will not be missed if it gets taken up Fran. My Laurel is a way of filling a tricky shaded corner. Kept ruthlessly in check. It is cloud cut with junipers at the moment.

they'd creep up even nore with me, Dorjac! I'm cautious about cutting back at the best of times: they'd no doubt take advantage of my weakness until I manage to over come it. Maybe I could do each side of a shrub differently, one hard prune, one light, and see what difference each makes - if I've overdone the "hard", the other side might survive!

I looked up "cloud pruning" when I first heard of it, but I didn't think I'd take it up - the pics I saw made the shrubs look unnatural to me.

do you have pics of your cloud-pruned laurel? I'd like to see the difference between "corporate" and "real" gardener methods - lol there's corporate gardeners and "pleasure" gardeners, and much difference between them!

Maybe the shrubs I saw had only just been done and would grwo out later - bit like a too-short haircut!

Corporate gardners and landscapers work to a scenario of usually all year leaf shrubs. Sometimes thorny, to discourage short cuts, that can be pruned with one sweep of a well aimed noisy device. They inhabit the Tescos, Asda, Sainsbury car parks very expertly and Brook Lodge next door at frequent intervals. Cloud cutting is a very old way of manipulating yews and the like. Some big old gardens have spectacular cloud cutting. Its a true gardeners skill in such places, and can be very creative. I did my very modest effort to blend the laurel next to junipers to keep things neat in that spot. Other parts are like a mini jungle.

I looked up cloud pruning again, found some pics that weren't bad-looking, but some were a bit extreme for me - there's a section on cloud-pruning conifers, which is totally new to me.

lol the prob with having to concentrate on one part of the garden is that it gives the rest of it a chance to run rampant!

The mini jungle is the herbaceous border or cottage garden. If I like the idea of a plant it goes in there. If it under performs it becomes a prop for a clematis Fran. It is nearly 40 foot long and 8 feet wide so quite a bit of room for a bit of riotous living. if something fails try another plant, if someone gives me a plant I might bung it in and see what happens. The apples and pears rule the roost. In the section that is free of them, it's a riot because they are not shading or taking the goodness out. I put 3 kniphofia caulescens in that section . Only one has come up well. That one is rampant.

heck, that's some "jungle"!! I raed years ago that a cottage carden is really hard work

It's a good idea having a "test area" to see how plants get on before giving them pride of place in a main garden that might suit them.

Are the apples and pears pick-able, or are they for the birds and small animals?