Plant: Otto Luyken - Laurel

Plant description

Otto Luyken is a low, dense, spreading cherry laurel that grows wider than tall, reaching about 3 to 4 feet high and 6 to 8 feet across, with glossy dark green lanceolate leaves 3 to 6 inches long that point upward from the stems. Fragrant, cup shaped, creamy white flowers with showy anthers open in dense cylindrical racemes 3 to 6 inches long in April and May, followed by small drupes that ripen from red to glossy purplish black. It grows rapidly in full sun to heavy shade in clay, loam or sandy acid soil with good drainage, tolerating dry and poor soils, pollution and heavy pruning but not heavy fertilization. Use it as a hedge, screen, foundation, specimen or mass planting.

Flowers

Fragrant, cup shaped, creamy white flowers with 7 or more petals and showy anthers, borne in dense cylindrical racemes 3 to 6 inches long in April and May.

Foliage

Broadleaf evergreen leaves are lanceolate to oblong, 3 to 6 inches long and less than an inch wide, glossy and dark green, with entire margins that occasionally carry minute teeth. Leaves point upwards from the stems, which is a distinctive feature.

Fruit

Small round drupes under an inch across, red at first and ripening to a glossy purplish black in late summer and fall.

Light

Dappled/Filtered Light, Deep Shade

Pruning

If pruning is required, it is best to prune after flowering has completed and to use hand pruners. Avoid shearing, which will mutilate the leaves.

Native range

Europe

Plant details