• Bright spring display of yellow flowers on bare twigs
• Edible red ‘cherries’ in summer that make great preserves
• Rugged flaking bark adds winter interest to your garden
• Small tree or large shrub, and great for hedges too
• Not affected by dogwood anthracnose or borers

• Symmetrical, narrow upright form, ideal for smaller gardens
• Spectacular fall display of golds, bright oranges and brilliant reds
• Beautiful pure-white flowers are the first spring blossoms to appear in the garden
• Summer crop of edible purple berries, great for pies or preserves
• Easy to grow in all types of soil, and a trouble-free shrub

What is less widely-known is that the bay laurel tree is a handsome garden evergreen, that doesn’t have to be trimmed into something formal, and is perfectly happy growing naturally, as a large shrub or small tree. If you look at a lot of wild trees, one thing you will quickly notice is how the width of the leaves varies. Some trees have very thin leaves, less than 1 inch wide – and sometimes less than ½ inch wide. These trees have a unique character, and while the leaves can still be used in the kitchen, their graceful form makes the plant especially handsome in the garden as well. Say hello to the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel, a unique and rare garden evergreen that will be a wonderful addition to your garden, and still give you fragrant bay leaves for the kitchen.

The name ‘laurel’ has been given to an awful lot of plants that have tough evergreen leaves. There is, though, only one Bay Laurel, a noble shrub or small tree, appropriately called by botanist Laurus nobilis. Don’t confuse it with the more common Cherry Laurel. That tree has much larger, glossy leaves, and looks very different from the Bay Laurel, which is easily distinguished by the hard, dry leaves of a much darker green that are not especially glossy and have a delicious fragrance.

Growing the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel

Size and Appearance

The Willow-leaf Bay Laurel is a unique and beautiful evergreen shrub that grows slowly into a large shrub or small tree. Typically much smaller than other forms of bay laurel, you might expect it to be 12 feet tall in a couple of decades, so a growth rate of about 6 inches a year. Evergreen, it provides color – green – throughout the year. The growth is open and gentle, with a tendency for many of the branches to be horizontal or gently falling, creating a lovely light and airy look.

This description assumes you will not be trimming this tree, which we do not recommend. Let it grow naturally and it will develop a lovely, unique and individual form. If you are looking for a bay tree to trim into cones, pyramids, poodles and other formal shapes, you need to be looking at the Crestwood Bay Laurel, a form with broad, almost circular leaves and dense, heavy growth ideal for trimming as often as you want to do it.

Although it may look very different, the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel is still a bay tree, and the leaves have exactly the same fragrance and ability to flavor food as more ‘normal’ looking forms. So harvest the leaves fresh and use them – note that older leaves have more fragrance and better flavor. They can be used fresh, or dried by several simple methods to give dry leaves that will last a year or more in an jar with a tight lid.

Where the leaves are very different is in their shape. Regular bay leaves are broad ovals, tapering at both ends to a point. In the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel They are 1½ to 3½ inches long but only ¼ to ⅞ of an inch wide, with an average width of about ½ an inch. These slender leaves create a completely different look, of a charming garden shrub with an open, airy look that will have visitors asking, “What is that lovely plant?” Note that the leaves have the same fragrance and flavor, and can be used in the kitchen in exactly the same way – you might need an extra leaf or two to make up for the smaller size of the leaves.

Since you are going to grow this tree unpruned, or at most with just a little shaping in early summer, it is much more likely to flower than trimmed bushes do. Along the stems, in spring, clusters of greenish-yellow fluffer flowers appear. These are fragrant, attract bees and pollinators, and give a charming look to your tree. They may also develop into small greenish to blackish fruits that resemble tiny green olives – even more reasons to treat this tree not as an adjunct to your kitchen, but as a beautiful addition to your collection of garden shrubs and trees. Notice that flowering is most profuse in the warmest zones.

Using the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel in Your Garden

The gentle, slightly open form of the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel makes it perfect for natural areas of your garden, near larger trees or backing beds of mixed shrubs. It could certainly be used as an informal screen, but don’t try to clip it into a formal hedge – it just isn’t going to work out well for you. Treat it as a charming natural evergreen shrub and you will be rewarded with exactly that..

Hardiness

The Willow-leaf Bay Laurel will grow happily in zone 7, although you may see some short-lived winter damage on some of the outermost leaves. In all warmer zones it is completely hardy and tolerates winter well. Should you want to grow it in a pot, only in zone 9 and warmer can the pot be left outdoors all winter – the roots are quite cold sensitive. In late fall simply bury the plant in the garden, with or without the pot, and in spring lift it and repot as needed.

Hardy in zone 7, but may show a little winter scorching on the leaves. In warmer zones it is completely winter-resistant. If you live in a colder zone, grow it in a pot and keep it in a bright but cool place through winter. Notice that in pots trees are only hardy year-round outdoors from zone 9, due to the sensitivity of the roots to cold. In zones 7 and 8, bury the plant, in the pot or slid out of it, in the garden and it will be just fine.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The Willow-leaf Bay Laurel is very easy to grow. Plant it in full sun, partial sun, or light open shade beneath deciduous trees (not heavy evergreens). Grow it in any well-drained soil., Some compost worked into the ground when planting, and some more as mulch over the root zone will do wonders for its growth, especially during the first 5 to 10 years of its life in your garden.

Maintenance and Pruning

No need to trim, and pruning should at most be a light shortening of branches and some general shaping in late spring – but it really isn’t necessarily.

You may confusingly see references to deer eating ‘laurel’ trees, but those are not bay laurel, but other evergreens. The bay laurel is one tree that truly is deer proof – they just loath the smell and will never eat the leaves. We can almost guarantee that. As for other pests or diseases, forget it, they are not going to happen in any noticeable way.

History and Origin of the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel

The bay laurel or bay tree, Laurus nobilis, grows naturally all around the Mediterranean, and has been used since time immemorial for wreaths to wear in celebration of a victory – military, sporting or academic. Our word ‘baccalaureate’ for graduating comes from it – see ‘laurel’ buried in the middle?

It was cultivated for the kitchen in England as early as the 16th century and probably arrived in North America multiple times with groups of settlers from many parts of Europe.

If you look at a big group of seedling trees of the bay tree, you soon notice differences in the relative width of the leaf to its length. Some trees have very narrow leaves around ½ inch wide, or even less. Botanists recognize this by calling such trees a ‘forma’ – the smallest unit of classification from the natural species. The Willow-leaf Bay Laurel is therefore known to botanists – and to keen gardeners – as Laurus nobilis f. angustifolia, where ‘f.’ is simply the standard abbreviation for ‘forma’.

Buying the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel at the Tree Center

So grow something very different, appealing, eye-catching and unique in your garden, the Willow-leaf Bay Laurel. This tree is only very rarely grown by nurseries, and we were lucky to stumble across these trees at the nursery of one of our top suppliers. Don’t miss out, we may never see them again, and we were only able to acquire a small number of them.

Unfortunately, the name ‘laurel’ has been given to many plants that have tough evergreen leaves, but there is only one Bay Laurel, a noble shrub or small tree, appropriately called by botanist Laurus nobilis. Don’t confuse it with the entirely different, and more common, Cherry Laurel, as they really are ‘entirely different’.

The Crestwood Bay Laurel is a selected form of this tree. It is a little smaller than a wild tree would be, the leaves are distinctly more rounded, and it also flowers much more reliably, with clusters of fragrant pale yellow flowers all along the stems in spring – best not to prune much if you want to enjoy them.

Often seen pruned into a tight column, or various ‘poodle’ or spiral shapes, it is also very popular for hedges, where it can be pruned into one of the densest large hedges possible. There is, though, an alternative approach. Don’t prune it at all and you will be surprised and impressed by the handsome, arching natural form it takes after a few years, developing multiple trunks and an irregular crown that is perfect in today’s more relaxed garden styles. And yes, you can still harvest all the leaves you want, to use fresh, or to dry in the shade in summer, to store for a year or more.

Growing the Crestwood Bay Laurel

Size and Appearance

The Crestwood Bay Laurel is an upright, somewhat slender large shrub or small tree, growing up to 12 inches a year when young, but mostly about 6 inches a year, into a plant that will perhaps be 12 feet tall in 10 to 15 years, and will grow indefinitely, with trees as much as 60 feet tall reported – very old trees, obviously. Always narrower than it is tall, you might reckon on it being 8 feet wide In 10 years, adding a couple of feet or more each decade after that.

This all sounds a bit vague because pruning obviously will keep it much smaller, and most trees are pruned, so the size is very much in your hands – unless you give your tree a free rein – try it and see how surprisingly handsome the result will be. Exposed bark is relatively smooth, and a very handsome light gray color.

The leaves are evergreen, with a tough, leathery feel and a very distinctive and pleasant aroma, released even without crushing them. They can be used fresh or dried, and the older leaves have the strongest and best flavor. They are typically 3 to 4 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide, more rounded in this variety than is seen in the wild tree. The color is mid to dark green, and the edges of the leaves are smooth, but with a wave-like undulation.

In spring, especially on unpruned trees, clusters of small, pale yellow flowers are produced all along the stems. These release a beautiful fragrance and attract many insects. Individually small, they are abundant, and in this variety much more common than in the common bay tree. Flowers can be rare when grown in cooler zones, or pruned regularly. Fruits are rarely if ever produced.

Using the Crestwood Bay Laurel in Your Garden

A wonderful evergreen, the Crestwood Bay Laurel is usually seen as a smallish clipped shrub or hedge, used in formal-looking gardens, or growing outside the kitchen door. It also makes one of the best evergreen hedges possible. Space plants 3 feet apart for a hedge 8 feet tall or more, and 2 feet apart for a smaller hedge.

As well, though, it makes a lovely specimen or background large shrub or small tree if left unpruned. Put aside the shears and let nature take its course. If all that pruning and trimming you see so often puts you off this tree, then simply don’t trim it. There, now you have one of the lowest-maintenance evergreens available.

Hardiness

The Crestwood Bay Laurel is hardy in zone 7, but may show a little winter scorching on the leaves. In warmer zones it is completely winter-resistant. If you live in a colder zone, grow it in a pot and keep it in a bright but cool place through winter. Notice that in pots trees are only hardy year-round outdoors from zone 9, due to the sensitivity of the roots to cold. In zones 7 and 8, bury the plant, in the pot or slid out of it, in the garden and it will be just fine.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The Crestwood Bay Laurel grows happily in full sun in all zones, and also in partial shade. It will also grow in light full shade under deciduous trees in hot zones, but the densest growth is in full sun.

It grows in pretty much any well-drained soil without difficulty, benefiting from some compost when planting and also used as mulch – keep it off the trunk and lower branches and cover the root zone right out past the width of the tree. In a lawn keep a tree circle free of grass and covered in mulch for the first 5 years. After that you can let the grass grow right to the tree, but always be careful using string trimmers, which can seriously damage the delicate bark.

Maintenance and Pruning

If you are going to trim your tree, give it a year or even two to grow untrimmed, while it becomes established. Trim after the spring new growth has darkened in color and the stems have hardened. Trim at any time after that, stopping in fall at least a month, and preferably 2 months, before the first hard frost is likely – young leaves may be damaged by the cold.

Unlike many other ‘laurel’ trees, the bay laurel is very repellent to deer and they almost never even take a nibble, so it’s a great choice if you have deer problems. Other significant pests or diseases are almost unknown

History and Origin of the Crestwood Bay Laurel

The bay tree, or bay laurel, Laurus nobilis, is native to the Mediterranean area, and relatively recently there were natural, untouched forests of this tree along the coast of Croatia. It was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for wreaths, often given to the winners of Greek Olympics, battles, and other great events. It has been grown in Britain since at least the 16th century, and also in France, where it has been widely used in the kitchen for centuries.

Presumably it was brought over by different groups of colonists to America, where it has been grown as an ornamental, for hedges and for its leaves since the colonial period. The variety called ‘Crestwood’ differs from the wild tree because the leaves are almost circular, and it is much more free in flowering. It was developed by Blooming Nurseries, in the Tualatin Valley, a very mild region west of Portland, Oregon. It was first released under their Blooming Advantage label.

Buying the Crestwood Bay Laurel at the Tree Center

Enjoy all the benefits of a bay tree, plus the extra large leaves (great in the kitchen) and abundant spring flowers by choosing the Crestwood Bay Laurel instead of some ordinary, every-day variety. We only have a few trees, so don’t wait to order, or you won’t graduate with this laurel wreath around your brow.