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Bay tree


Kathy

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Be aware that there are three types of bay. The bay laurel is the hedgeing  tree and is poisonous, the oleandear is also called bay -something or other - in France.The one you want if you are thinking of just taking a leaf or two for cooking is laurus nobilus - sweet bay. It can be tender in a pot depending on where you live. The latin names are the surest way to know what you are getting.
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Thanks for the replies, it was the one for culinary purposes I wanted. We live down in 66 and I put a cover over my yukka in case of frost so would do the same with a bay. We have irrigated the garden and would do so with the bay in a pot.
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We inherited a large sweet bay in our farmhouse in 61.  OH had to annihilate it to fit in the new gas tank so we thought it was a goner, yet two years later its as if nothing had happenned because its green  abundant again.  No worries about the cold even here - it grows happily!

Maybe you don't need to take a cutting either as I noticed ours has thrown tiny little seedling bay trees maybe up to five feet away.   Have a scavenge about and you might find same.

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Our experience has been the same as Framboise's.  Protection from even heavy frost does not seem to be an issue (in Sarthe, 72).  More of an issue is the size they eventually grow to if left to their own devices - up to 10 metres high and almost as big through in good conditions.  And yes, the pesky things do seed everywhere.  I've trained one into a corkscrew shape as a punishment and a warning to others.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yes another warning on these sweet bay trees.  I have one growing out of the side of the four-a-pain.  Tried cuting it back to nothing (well almost, cant get to the base as its in the wall) and weed killer, it just seems to respond by growing back even stronger.  We love the bay leaves, but not when it threatens a stone building.  Anyone any clues on how I can kill it ?

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I believe that oleander (laurier rose) is also very poisonous

And it is so pretty...

Toxicité :

C’est

une des plante les plus dangereuses de nos régions. Feuilles,

fleurs, écorce et bois, frais ou séchés, sont toxiques

à très faible dose. On considère qu’une seule

feuille peut être mortelle pour l’homme.

'it is one of the post dangerous plants found in our region: leaves, flowers, bark and stem, fresh or dried are poisonois in even very small quantities. Even a single leaf can be deadly.'

http://www.aujardin.info/plantes/laurier-rose.php

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[quote user="pcwhizz"]Yes another warning on these sweet bay trees.  I have one growing out of the side of the four-a-pain.  Tried cuting it back to nothing (well almost, cant get to the base as its in the wall) and weed killer, it just seems to respond by growing back even stronger.  We love the bay leaves, but not when it threatens a stone building.  Anyone any clues on how I can kill it ?

[/quote]

Cut it down again.  Drill holes in the stump.  Fill with "destructeur de souches".  I've killed several unwanted trees that way.

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