On 2009-12-27 15:27:20 +0000, "David WE Roberts" said:

We have a laurel/bay bush in our back garden (which is actually a tree
which has been cut down to a stump and then regrown as a bush).

I have some other bushes in tubs but they have a different scent and I
particularly like the one in our back garden.

However it may have to go because it is really in the wrong place for
our redesigned rear area.
Obviously being a truncated tree it cannot be lifted and moved.

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_bay_laurel.htm makes it sound
quite difficult to propagate (however as they can't even get their
Farenheit/Centigrade conversions right I don't know how much to trust
them).

Of the three options, I don't see any seeds and layering may take too
long (although air layering is not mentioned, which might be an option)
so cuttings seems to be the best bet.

Has anyone had success taking cuttings from bay?

How do I tell which type of bay it is?
The web site above describes it as a bush but the trunk was pretty big
and the bay trees around this area seem to be just that - trees.
My other bays have grown from seedlings lifted from a friend's garden
and his bay tree is huge.

Cheers

Dave R

If it makes you think of bread sauce and Sunday lunch, it's the
cooking variety. They spread enthusiastically, though they can be
trained to one stem if caught before they've got away! We have a slab
of it in part of the garden here and it's regularly treated to severe
hacking back As to its height, a friend of mine's wife went out and
bought a tiny bay in a pot when they moved into their new house
because, she said, they had none. He silently pointed to those in
front of the kitchen which had grown to around 30' at the bottom of a
well watered valley slope! They were so huge it had never occurred to
her that they were Laurus nobilis.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon