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northjersey

Where to find the laurel 'rotundifolia' cultivar in the Northeast

northjersey
9 years ago

I'm looking for a source for prunus laurocerasus 'rotundifolia' in the Northeast. So far, all I've found is 'Otto Luyken' (at a ridiculous price). I don't care for Otto Luyken or 'schipkaensis'. Let me know. Thanks!

Comments (15)

  • Embothrium
    9 years ago

    Those narrow-leaved types are more hardy, perhaps ones like in the picture do not succeed in your area. Another possible thing I would like to point out is that maybe stock sold as 'Nana' has the traits you are looking for, you might like to check that one out as I think you are much more likely to find it than something on offer as 'Rotundifolia' - which I have never even seen before.

    Depending on what those traits are.

  • northjersey
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The 'rotundifolia' is hardy to zone 6 or so. 'nana' is apparently not cold hardy and slow growing.

    I guess I'm looking for a somewhat cold hardy laurel with extremely aggressive growth. I prefer the look of the rounded leaves. I'm trying to grow a massive, dense laurel hedge down my driveway (550' or so) and along the propertly line.

  • northjersey
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The 'rotundifolia' is hardy to zone 6 or so. 'nana' is apparently not cold hardy and slow growing.

    I guess I'm looking for a somewhat cold hardy laurel with extremely aggressive growth. I prefer the look of the rounded leaves. I'm trying to grow a massive, dense laurel hedge down my driveway (550' or so) and along the propertly line.

  • Embothrium
    9 years ago

    Leaves in photo you used, except for being on the "rotund" side show typical P. laurocerasus foliage. If you have not I would look for locally or at least regionally generated information verifying that this one is more hardy than usual. If there is a comprehensive online wholesale nursery source guide for your area look and see how many, if any growers are listing stock under the name, and what part of the region they are located in. Inventories of botanical gardens and arboreta can also be used to see if it has been possible to maintain examples of a plant within a given area.

    Propagations offered as 'Nana' here are of typical size but with more attractive, smaller leaves and probably more dense growth than usual for random seedlings.

    The online source guide for the Oregon nursery industry has no category for 'Rotundifolia'. It does list 20 sources for 'Nana'.

  • northjersey
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks!

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    boy... if i was planting 5 hundred and fifty feet ... i would go with a z4 plant.. in z6 ...

    you are really rolling the dice on staying with a z6 plant in z6 ...

    are you really sure... mother nature will cooperate???

    heck.. first time in 20 years.. we had a z4 winter.. in my z5 MI.. last year ... it wasnt pretty ....

    think about it.. reject it.. at your inclination ...

    ken

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    9 years ago

    If it does prove hardy (I can't comment at all on that aspect) be aware that it can grow very large unless regularly pruned. To keep it bushy and within bounds it needs cutting at least annually. Note the shrub size given at the link.

    That name does seem to be widely in use in the UK nursery trade.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Prunus laurocerasus 'Rotundifolia'.

    This post was edited by floral_uk on Sat, Sep 27, 14 at 6:47

  • Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
    9 years ago

    Even Skip laurels got winter damage in our region of zone 7a after last winter. Mine were OK, but were well watered and got just a bit of shade. Skips are among the most hardy and least problematic (less susceptible to scale).

  • northjersey
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    How discouraging.

    What do you think about a hemlock hedge? I'm not opposed to spraying them for woolly adelgids.

  • Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
    9 years ago

    You might look into Euonymus 'Manhatten'. It grows fast, is cheap, and grows large (up to 10 feet high). Makes a fair hedge, if you don't mind clipping it every year. Flowers are a bit stinky, but if that's not an issue, there you go. It should be reliably evergreen in a warm zone 6 most years.

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    9 years ago

    Having Google imaged the OP's picture it turns out to be from the website of Homebase, i.e. a UK 'big box' store. Rather backs up the notion that it's possibly not available in the US. It says 'fully hardy' in the whole UK but that is not necessarily hardy in the whole US.

    Here is a link that might be useful: OP's source

  • Embothrium
    9 years ago

    Yes, I assumed the original query was based on reading of British origin web pages - or otherwise ones not from the region where the planting is desired. The Willamette Valley has a history of being a major production area for nursery crops that are sent all over the country - the vendor booths at the annual nursery trades show in Portland used to be real heavy on purple Japanese maples and blue spruces, presumably because those could all be sold in quantity to big markets back East - so if the online guide to Oregon stock currently on offer has no listing for this cultivar it makes me think it is not on the market much over here, if at all.

    Of course, it might have turned out to have been circulated among growers in some other part of the country where commercial production of this species is possible.

    Another relevant point is that both commercial and non-commercial references repeatedly misuse the USDA zones (if they even specify those are what they are referring to) when representing the hardiness of plants being described. It seems the concept of 0F-10F etc. representing the AVERAGE range of low temperatures blows by most people, with the result that if a plant burns at 10F (the top of the range of average lows for USDA 7) then it will be stated it is hardy to Zone 7, and so on through the list.

    So the Zone 6 designation for 'Rotundifolia' could be based on the belief that the cultivar is hardy to 0F, which would be fine until someone planting it there got -5F or below.

    The USDA Hardiness Zones web site recommends you choose plants rated at least one zone hardier than your zone.

  • mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
    9 years ago

    Hemlock hedges are extremely high maintenance. They *have* to be pruned at least twice a year or they will become 80 ft trees. They should be pruned three times a year to keep them neat.

    Personally, I'd be looking at rhododendrons.

  • Embothrium
    9 years ago

    Except you are talking about possible decades before those are 17 ft. high.

  • northjersey
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Yeah, the slow growth of rhododendrons rules them out.

    I'm leaning toward the hemlock at this point. Clipping the hedge three times a year would be a chore, hemlock would be fast growing, attractive, evergreen year in and year out, cold hardy, dense, and inexpensive.