Bay/Laurel Tree

I have a wonderful tree in a medium sized pot that goes out on the patio at the end of May and into the house before the first frost. It has been very easy to maintain and the leaves keep me well supplied for culinary and decorative uses. As with most everything else-fresh is much better.

Just thought I would add this to a separate post because there are many things that one can grow even in inhospitable climates that add to the cooking delight. I harvested 2 Meyer lemons this winter and have small figs on my trees that wintered in the garage. In east central Wisconsin it just takes extra work and adaptations to get some of these things to grow but it's not impossible.

[Jenise]

So they don't winter over outside? From what Jo Ann described, I presumed hers was in the ground but then I think you're colder than we are over the course of a winter. By the by, I was unsuccessful at finding a bay leaf plant yesterday though I went to a nursery who normally has them. They offered me, in its place, something called an Oregon myrtle, I think it was called, that had a similar shaped and very aromatic leaf that was bay leaf spicy plus a little something different, rather Bactine-like. It was an interesting but not a compelling replacement--it would be if I couldn't grow bay here at all and could grow that one, but that's not the case. So I'm still searching.

I am so impressed with you growing Meyer lemons! There's a man famous locally for growing all kinds of citrus about 12 miles east of me. Of course, he has a greenhouse for winter protection. Yours do well inside your house, or do you have a sunroom area where they can get extra warmth and humidity?

I've discovered that figs grow well here so I'm thinking hard about that. Not sure where I'd fit it in, but my landscaper and I will talk about it when he gets here later this morning.

My tree is definitely planted outside, Jenise. They do well in our zone 8 climate. When I bought it , it was in a 1 gallon pot. After 5 years it is about 5' tall with about a 4' spread (it would be much larger if I didn't prune it so frequently). Very healthy -- very hardy. I would suggest that you hold out for the bay laurel, or mail order. You will be greatly rewarded.

Jenise, definitely hold out for the bay tree. Don't be disuaded about fig either. If you have the right location you might not have to winter them over in a garage.
When I saw the set up at Sans Souci I made up my mind that I could grow figs. What an ingenious design! If you've been there you know that the house and terraces below it have maximal sun exposure. The terraces were designed so that they could easily be glassed over for a winter greenhouse. Spectacular. The sun warmed vertical walls retain and reflect the heat and creat a micro climate perfect for figs. I somehow remember that there might have been grapes on alternate terraces but I was so taken with the figs I can't be sure.
The only problem I have is that I will soon need a tractor to move the pots in/out as they get bigger !

Lucky you! I love Meyer lemons and you may be the only Wisconsinite to successfully grow them. You must have quite the green thumb.

It's not that I have such a green thumb but that I'm unwilling to accept someone's proclaimation that "it can't be done". Just hearing that Jenise's gardner didn't know about bay or thought it would not grow makes me see red. I will know that it can't be done when I try and it fails. It's fun to defy the growing odds and learn in the process. Meyer Lemon, Blood Orange [ yet to produce but still a thriving tree], Keffir Lime, Bay Laurel and figs are my so far successful experiments.

It's not that I have such a green thumb but that I'm unwilling to accept someone's proclaimation that "it can't be done". Just hearing that Jenise's gardner didn't know about bay or thought it would not grow makes me see red. I will know that it can't be done when I try and it fails. It's fun to defy the growing odds and learn in the process. Meyer Lemon, Blood Orange [ yet to produce but still a thriving tree], Keffir Lime, Bay Laurel and figs are my so far successful experiments.

My Kaffir Lime also wintered over beautifully, has quite a few lovely leaves, and promise of full bloom with many new buds. But, I can't say the same for my bougainvillea. It was beginning to bud, then we had a cold snap and everything died back. When I cut some of the branches, they are still green. So, I am continuing to water and fertilize just to see what happens. Had a little die back on my back yard maple too. I'm really bummed because it affected the symmetry.

[Jenise]

I will know that it can't be done when I try and it fails. It's fun to defy the growing odds and learn in the process.

I so agree!! For all that my landscaper was excited about my project because I have a very different home, plus the guts and taste to want a yard full of unusual plants, I somehow have not been entirely successful in conveying that I am willing to take this kind of risk, too. He seems to reflexively presume that his clients are more conventional and would not want something that he can't guarantee "will do well here". Or need pruning, no matter how many times I say "I love pruning, it's therapy." When he arrived this morning to find the tiny dwarf larch I bought yesterday to replace a more conventional spyria, I think it finally sunk in. It pains me that the problems with the other contractor I have on site right now are such that I haven't been able to get away and shop for my own plants.

. Just hearing that Jenise's gardner didn't know about bay or thought it would not grow makes me see red.

I know what you mean, but I suspect that what a nursery sells is largely dependent upon what will grow in that climate. The nursery I go to guarantees all of their plants and trees. I doubt they could do that here if they were selling coconut or pineapple trees.

I knew I was in trouble when I told our landscaper that I wanted to pleach a row of lindens at the property line adjacent to the walled patio and he drew a blank. I twisted my husbands arm to fire him when he drove up with a trio of symmetrically sheared blue spruces for the corner. The corner now has a grouping of European elderberries. The only thing he knew was the type of specimen planting where perfectly ordinary trees or shrubs are plunked down in the middle of miles of mulch or stones.

I have been doing the selection and planting myself with nearly everything productive of something good to eat. Just starting a new currant hedge with 3 different black currants, 2 white, 2 pink and red. My husband has agreed to everythig except apple trees in the front yard but I snuck in a Russian Quince saying it was an ornamental flowering tree. This year he is very happy because it has wonderful blossoms. If we get any quinces I'll have to make sure I have some great Spanish cheeses to demonstrate why we really have a quince tree in the front yard!

For all that my landscaper was excited about my project because I have a very different home, plus the guts and taste to want a yard full of unusual plants, I somehow have not been entirely successful in conveying that I am willing to take this kind of risk, too. He seems to reflexively presume that his clients are more conventional and would not want something that he can't guarantee "will do well here".

I don't have that problem, as I'm my own landscaper. I was talking with a lady recently who, upon learning of my horticulture background, asked the predictable question - "What can I use on my Bermuda lawn?" My response - "Roundup would be my first suggestion." She was quite taken aback.
I've had lawn services stop by to offer their services in maintaining my gardens. I always politely turn them down, as I am quite sure I know what to do better than most of them, for my tastes anyway.

[Jenise]

Jenise, I get a lot of ideas and plants from One Green World in Oregon. They have a great variey of interesting things and I have been very happy with their shipping stuff to Wisconsin.

Actually, the reason I hired this guy was because when I was getting ready to landscape, I asked two people in my neighborhood whose yards I thought were exceptional and both had used Gavin. Then I stopped one day in Bellingham to look at a yard I thought was rather daring and asked them who they'd used--guess what? Same guy. Of all the contractors I've hired or plan to hire for various parts of my overall remodel, hiring him was the only choice about which I had no doubts, and he does get what I mean by "managed chaos" when I describe the look I want, a crowded planting with a lot of edgy, architectural shapes. The way my courtyard was before, in this space (about 25 wide and 45 deep) all but a waist-high weeping spruce, a stand of bamboo and two 12 foot camelias were deciduous, and these were clustered to the right rear. Looking out the kitchen window all winter long, then, the view was depressingly just twigs and branches. Of trees that had not been shaped and pruned properly in decades, no less.

But yeah, he's not excited about my bay leaf nor has he ever planted one for anyone.

I really admire your "edible" mandate, btw. I won't do that because I really need a lot of evergreens in that courtyard, and edibles are hard to grow on the water side of my house (whose ornamental beds are also being redone), but thinking about your comment I had a great new idea today about where to put a beautiful gooseberry I was looking at yesterday (my one trip to a nursery, to pick out two grape varieties). And I'm feeling a little unhappy with myself for bending to convention re the two grape varieties I picked. They actually had gruner veltliner, which I'd love to take a chance on. And I settled for a black grape where I really preferred a white Interlakken, because the former was a two year plant where the latter was just a graft. Didn't think about ordering from out of town--I'm going to give your friends in Oregon a call.

[Jenise]

I know what you mean, but I suspect that what a nursery sells is largely dependent upon what will grow in that climate. The nursery I go to guarantees all of their plants and trees. I doubt they could do that here if they were selling coconut or pineapple trees.

I know you were responding to Christina but bay laurels are not coconuts. The one nursery I went to on Sunday DOES sell them. It's just a pretty uncommon plant in these parts, and I guess like any specialist my landscaper has strengths and weaknesses. Herbs must be one of them.

Jenise, look at the varieties of Stone Pines at One Green World. It may be years before you get any pine nuts as they are mostly very slow growers - the Korean ones are a bit faster- but they are extremely ornamental and great, at least initially for a smaller space.

I know what you mean, but I suspect that what a nursery sells is largely dependent upon what will grow in that climate. The nursery I go to guarantees all of their plants and trees. I doubt they could do that here if they were selling coconut or pineapple trees.

I know you were responding to Christina but bay laurels are not coconuts.

And I never claimed Bay Laurels were coconuts. Sheesh.

[Jenise]

And I never claimed Bay Laurels were coconuts. Sheesh.

Yes you did.

Are you saying that coconuts are migratory?