I always fancied the idea of having one or two of those fancy bay trees, laurus nobilis, grown as a standard on a single stem, but I never fancied the price of them when I saw them in garden centres. So I bought a baby one, a little thing, about 8in (20cm) high or so, for about £2.50 at my favourite garden centre, Gordon Rigg's in Walsden, West Yorkshire. It was tucked among parsley, chives, mint and so on. I read somewhere that laurus nobilis plants grow very slowly and so I accepted that it might take a while before I had to decide whether to just keep it as a small shrub in a container, or try and train it as a standard in a container. But actually, since I bought mine in spring this year, it has more than doubled its size and it's only in a very small pot, about 6in. I've already cut off some of its leaves for cooking and look at it: it has more than doubled its size in a few months. I may take a cutting off it and try and grow a standard out of that.
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| Small bay shrub, laurus nobilis |
The problem with growing plants in containers is that the pots and their contents can freeze in sub-zero temperatures and cause loss of the plant. I tend to overwinter small plants in a mini-greenhouse but for large plants, like my Japanese Acers, I put bubble wrap around containers which is another way to protect a precious plant.
Right now my little bay tree is growing in its pot in full sun but I understand they can also be grown in partial shade.
