Prunus lusitanica

Prunus lusitanica

Prunus lusitanica (Portuguese laurel) is a dense, bushy evergreen shrub or small tree with glossy, dark-green, slender leaves set off by attractive red stems. In early summer it bears small, white, lightly scented flower racemes, followed by dark redpurple fruit. Ideal for compact, formal hedging and screening, it thrives in full sun to partial shade and moist but welldrained, moderately fertile soil. If left untrimmed it can reach about 12m tall and 8m wide over 2050 years, though it is well suited to clipped hedge heights of 15m. Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Feeding time: spring Trimming time: late summer (after flowering)

To help give a clear sense of scale, the stone wall shown in our photos measures approximately 265cm in height. We also use familiar garden tools as visual references: a digging fork (110cm tall) and a hand fork (30cm tall). These are included purely as size guides to help you better judge proportions when viewing the images.

Position: Full sun to partial shade Rate of Growth: Moderate Soil: Moist but well-drained; moderately fertile Hardiness: Fully hardy Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Plant at a Glance

light:sun
light:light-shade
facing:east
facing:west
facing:north
facing:south
soiltype:moderate-fertile
soiltype:light-sandy
soiltype:heavy-clay
soiltype:chalky
soilmoisture:normal
foliage:evergreen
flowering:june
flowercolour:white
leafcolour:green
size:5m+
specialconditions:exposed-positions
gardenstyle:formal
gardenstyle:architectural