It is now officially mid-spring and everything has burst into bloom. The last magnolia flowers are colliding with the first of the dogwood blooms, not to mention the unfurling of the first lilacs. Fluffy double cherry blossoms weigh down branches, while ornamental plums and pears strut their stuff in slightly more decorous fashion. Amid all that excess, something else is going on that many people don’t even recognize. The skip laurels are blooming.
What is a skip laurel? Officially it is an extremely common variety of evergreen Prunus laurocerasus, which has its own nicknames, including “cherry laurel”, “cherrylaurel,” or English laurel. In Latin, skip laurel goes by the nearly-unpronounceable name, Prunus laurocerasus ‘Schipkaensis’, which is why landscape professionals shortened it to something that is easier on the tongue. The common name says a lot. Though not a true laurel, cherry laurel, and its offspring skip laurel, have laurel-like leaves that are dark green, glossy and ovoid in shape. The “cherry” part refers to the summer fruits, which are small, black, and somewhat cherry-like. Birds love them, though they would choke humans.
Skip laurel is not a native plant. According to woody plant guru Michael Dirr, the variety was discovered in Bulgaria in 1889, near the Schipka Pass in the Balkans. Following standard taxonomic practice, the species name is derived from the plant’s place of origin.
The botanical and/or common names may be unfamiliar, but I would bet money that you have some skip laurels in your neighborhood, mostly used as hedging. When grown in the average suburban landscape, the shrubs may be anywhere from three to eight feet tall and about half as wide. These dimensions are generally the result of more or less pruning, which depends on the preferences and level of fastidiousness of the property owner.
Some skip laurels never bloom or bear fruit, mostly because they are pruned in early spring before flowers form. Those shrubs that are allowed to flower are spectacular, and the property owners are lucky. As the cherries, pears and plums explode with flowers, skip laurels dazzle the senses with racemes or flower spikes that emerge from the leaf axils—the spaces where leaves and stems meet. Those racemes are erect and two to five inches tall, and each is home to scores of tiny white flowers that are deliciously, sweetly fragrant. In fact, if you got close enough to a skip laurel hedge for long enough, that sweetness might well be overpowering. Dr. Dirr goes even further, referring to cherry laurels in general as “sickeningly fragrant”.
His point is valid, but I find the fragrance alluring in the same way that I find hyacinth fragrance alluring. Both can be too much in certain circumstances, but on a sunny spring day when the scent of skip laurel wafts on the breeze, it is enchanting.
Why do landscapers almost invariably recommend skip laurels as hedging materials? Because the variety is reliably hardy in cold winter climates through USDA plant hardiness Zone 6, stays green all winter long, and, when planted on masse, forms a nice, solid screen. Unlike boxwood, which many people view as the perfect hedging plant, it is relatively untroubled by pests and diseases. It is not quite as ubiquitous as the Leyland cypress or x Cupressocyparis leylandii, but it is also not nearly as boring. If you let it flower, it really provides four seasons of interest with relatively little effort on the part of the gardener.
The most successful skip laurel hedges grow in light to moderate shade, and require consistent, but not heavy moisture. They can be pruned to suit your preferences, but it seems a shame to deprive yourself and the neighbors of the spring flowers. For tidiness’sake, prune after flowering. If you prune by about one third, the hedge will stay trim through the growing season and provide you with flowers next spring.
Handsome and romantic, yet practical, sounds like the definition of the perfect life partner. Not everyone can find such an individual in the human realm, but in the plant kingdom, skip laurel comes close.