Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel
Prunus laurocerasus ‘Otto Luyken’ · a spreading cherry laurel
A low, spreading cherry laurel with small, glossy evergreen leaves, an easy low hedge or foundation shrub that thrives in shady corners, and deer leave it alone. Prune by hand after its fragrant spring flower spikes, since shearing mangles the leaves. Its fruit and leaves are poisonous.
- Mature size
- 3.5 × 7 ft
- 1.1 × 2.1 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 6a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Blooms
- Apr
Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel at its mature size
A mature Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel grows 3 to 4 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: Missouri Botanical Garden, The Tree Center.
Through the year
What Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Jun–Mar
Glossy narrow dark green leaves, no flowers.
In flower · Apr–May
Upright candles of creamy white flowers above the glossy leaves.
Photos
Growing Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Hedge, foundation planting, shade garden, deer resistant, and fragrant
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel, that’s about 7 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other cherry laurels
Otto Luyken Cherry Laurel
Bright 'N Tight Carolina Laurel
Skip LaurelAll drawn to the same scale.