How to Grow Bay Leaf (Bay Laurel)
This article is part of our “How to Grow Herbs” series. If you would like to learn more about how to work with this plant after you harvest it, please refer to our Herbal Aromatherapy Certification Program™ here.
Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis), sometimes called sweet bay or sweet laurel, is a beautiful tree in the Lauraceae family and is thus related to cinnamon, camphor, cassia, sassafras and avocado trees.
When Jon (my husband) and I first moved to the Pacific Northwest, one of the first things we did was set out to visit some of the region’s farms and plant nurseries. We met Jim and Dottie, the founders and former owners of Goodwin Creek Gardens (you might remember seeing them in our lavender film), on one such trip when we were visiting their nursery and I proceeded to purchase a plethora of beautiful lavenders and herb starts for our garden. They had so many lovely, happy plants from which to choose and I could not resist bringing some home with me.
One of the plants I bought from them during a trip out to their property was a 10-year-old bay tree that they had kept in a large pot and would move into their high tunnel for the winter. It has since been potted up a couple of times and I treasure it. It stays evergreen here in my zone 8b garden, but if you live in a cooler zone where the trees are not hardy, you will want to move your plant to a greenhouse, sunroom, or inside the house during the winter months. If you bring it indoors, you will likely need to provide supplementary light throughout the winter to keep the tree healthy and happy. You can plant bay in a large pot and keep it on a rolling plant stand with casters on a solid surface to make it easier to move it about as needed when the seasons change.
Growth Habit and Growing Conditions
Bay is generally hardy to a USDA zone 8 and can grow to be 30 feet tall (about 9 meters) when planted in ideal conditions. When grown in containers, it can be kept much shorter. Bay generally prefers to be planted in full sun but I have found that in areas with warmer summers, it does better with a bit of afternoon shade. Our bay tree used to get sunburn on its leaves during the summertime before we moved it to a part of the garden where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade, but our summers are especially harsh. I would recommend planting it on a side of the house that does not get much south-facing exposure if summers are very hot where you live.
Bay leaves are leathery, fragrant, and dark green, though they can take on a lighter green color in seasons of fresh growth. The trees produce pretty, delicate flowers that have a waxy, translucent appearance and the female tree’s flowers, when pollinated, can develop small brown fruits or berries. Click here to see a photograph of bay fruits.
Bay is easiest to grow via rooted cuttings. I recommend sourcing an established clone from your local garden center or nursery and gradually increasing its pot size as the plant matures. It seems to do best in amended soil and if you are growing it in a container, you will need to top-dress it with compost and a bit of natural fertilizer in the years when you do not increase its pot size. An occasional root prune may also be indicated, depending on how short you would like to keep your container-grown tree.
Learning More
If you would like to learn more about how to work with aromatic plants, I hope you will join me in our Herbal Aromatherapy Certification Program™ here at Floranella! In it, I teach students how to safely and effectively work with over 100 different herbs as well as their applicable essential oils and hydrosols from the garden to the still to the apothecary. I hope to see you in class one day!
About the Author
Hi there, I’m Erin! I am the main instructor here at Floranella. I am a clinical herbalist, aromatherapist, artisan distiller and organic gardener based in the Pacific Northwest. Here at Floranella, I teach people how to work with plants safely and effectively from the garden to the apothecary. Thanks for being here! I’m glad you stopped by.
