Salty Thumb wrote i:

Mike Prager §kill-spam§mprager@§alum.§mit.§edu wrote:

L. nobilis may not do too well in your area. Most sites give
it as hardy to 8 (even 8b). I grow it in 8a, but we haven't
had a deep freeze for a while.

I expect that if you find it in your garden centers, it would
be from late spring through the summer.

If you have a sheltered spot, it's probably worth a try. It
sure beats paying $5 for a tiny bottle of bay leaves (which
often are the inferior California bay).

Thanks for the info. I was planning on growing it indoors (at least
during the winter), in a movable container (despite warnings about herbs
not doing too well indoors). Since it supposely is going to turn into a
tree, that's probably an insane idea.

My experience is that it grows very slowly. The first year I had it it put
out about 4 new leaves, so it wasn't a good source of leaves for a year or
two. It's now about 5 years old, 2 feet tall, and has plenty of leaves to
spare.

I have been deliberately avoiding fertilizing, extra watering, and frequent
repotting in an effort to keep it from growing too big.

It takes well to cutting the top leaves and branches out in a more bushy
way.

I take it inside soon after the first frost, and I think it does well as a
houseplant. It does get some scale, which I control by submerging the
entire plant in water with a little dishwashing detergent, lightly rubbing
off the bugs with a sponge, and then rinsing well. Usually one treatment a
year is fine.

I think spraying with horticultural oil would do fine to control the scale
too, but I assume you would want to wash the leaves before cooking to get
rid of the oil, so it doesn't seem like there is any real savings in time.