Plant type

Evergreen shrub or small tree

Height

8m x 10m

Wildlife benefit

Bird (shelter), bee and hoverfly plant

  • Dense, ultimately spreading habit, cherry laurel is widely used for screening.
  • Upright spikes of fragrant white flowers, mid- and late spring. Cherry-like red berries ripen to black.
  • Good nesting site for birds.
  • Bees visit flowers for nectar and pollen. The extra-floral nectaries on the undersides of young leaves are visited by bees when other nectar sources are scarce.
  • Nectaries also visited by ants, ichneumon wasps and certain adult hoverflies.
  • May also attract the odd adult butterfly.