Heartbreak for any gardener is leaving treasured plants behind when we move. I didn’t have much choice with a ten-foot tall bay laurel.
I started the bay from seed sometime around 1990, after reading that it is a challenge to grow bay from seed. It grew very slowly for the first few years. I eventually planted it beside my patio. And there it thrived!
No doubt the slow rate of growth explains why bay is usually more expensive than similarly-sized herb plants.
My Beloved Bay Laurel
The quickest and easiest way I’ve found to propagate bay is to take root cuttings, once the plant begins to clump. In this way I was able to keep part of my bay, started from seed, even after we moved in 2016.
Over the years my beloved bay not only flavored many dishes, but my sister and I used the branches for many wreathes, and other craft projects.
Bay laurel grows very well in Central Florida, although some years you may need to give it a spray of copper fungicide in the spring.
