Bay tree

[Kathy]

I would like a bay tree on a stem of about 1  metre to put in a pot by my front door. These are abundant in England but wondered if they were available in France.

[5-element]

There are lots of them growing big and wild around where I am. I was given a cutting about 5 years ago, and now have 3 bay trees in my garden, also warned that they do get very invasive. So, yes, they are very common here.

[Kitty]

They are everywhere here around Bordeaux.  Every other person in Arcachon has a bay hedge.

The only thing about pots here is the watering so they are better in the ground.

[Scooby]

We have one in our front garden (SW France) and it's on a mission to take over.  Took the hacksaw to it last year to 'restrain' it.  Would concur with the 'in the ground' v 'in a pot' - no point creating work [:D].

[sackville]

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.

[Kathy]

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.

[cassis]

Sweet bay is hardy down to -5°C, even -10°C for short periods.  You don't need to protect it in dept 66 - that is its home territory.

[woolybananasbrother]

can it be propagated from cuttings? when is the best time, what type of cutting please?

[cassis]

I once took a cutting from the San Francisco Bay local paper but I can't remember the details now.

[Clair]

[quote user="woolybananasbrother"]can it be propagated from cuttings? when is the best time, what type of cutting please?[/quote]

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_september_3_bay2.asp#bay%20propagate

[woolybananasbrother]

thank you Clair.

[Framboise]

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.

[cassis]

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.

[tracteurtom]

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 ?

[NormanH]

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

[cassis]

[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.

[tracteurtom]

Hah, yes of course.  Thanks Cassis, I'll give that a try.

Also useful for those peskey Ash / Rowan trees that come from nothing to great big impossible to do anything with monsters !