Portugal Laurel
The smarter, better-behaved cousin of cherry laurel — a dense evergreen screen with smaller, neater leaves and handsome red leaf-stalks. It tolerates chalk and clips more crisply, making it the classier choice for a formal evergreen hedge, though the clippings are just as cyanogenic.
Toxic if eaten (cyanogenic leaves & seeds)
Portugal laurel (Prunus lusitanica) is on the RHS list of potentially harmful plants. Like cherry laurel its leaves and seeds are cyanogenic, so chewed foliage can cause drooling, vomiting and cyanide-type poisoning. Keep prunings away from pets and grazing animals.
Care at a glance
Everything that matters, in six lines. The detail is further down.
Position
Happy in full sun or partial shade. It colours and clips best with reasonable light, but tolerates shadier spots well.
Water
Keep new plants watered through their first two summers. Once settled it's noticeably more drought-tolerant than cherry laurel.
Hardiness
Hardy across most of the UK and more wind- and cold-resilient than cherry laurel, so a better bet in exposed gardens.
Soil
More tolerant than cherry laurel of dry and chalky soils. It still wants reasonable drainage and dislikes standing water.
Feeding
A spring feed and mulch supports steady growth and keeps the foliage dark and glossy. It's not a hungry plant.
Pruning
Smaller leaves take a trimmer better than cherry laurel. As a Prunus, cut in summer when wounds heal fast — never in winter.
What to do, and when
Feed and mulch as growth begins, and plant new hedging while the soil warms. Fresh growth shows off the red leaf-stalks.
Slender spikes of small, fragrant white flowers open in early summer. Trim the hedge from mid- to late summer as Prunus wounds heal fast.
Small dark red-to-purple berries follow the flowers — toxic, so keep pets and children away. Growth slows into autumn.
Fully dormant but evergreen and wind-firm. Do NOT prune now — winter cuts invite silver leaf and canker in Prunus.
The classier evergreen screen
Portugal laurel does the same job as cherry laurel — a dense, private, evergreen wall — but with smaller, neater leaves and distinctive red leaf-stalks that give it a smarter, more refined look. It also tolerates chalk and dry soil better, and is hardier in wind and cold.
Plant from pots or root-balls in autumn or spring, spacing plants about 60cm apart for a hedge. Prepare the ground, firm plants in and water through the first two summers to get it away cleanly.
Formative and maintenance pruning
For the first two years, trim the sides and reduce the leaders to build a dense, even hedge from the base up — that early formative pruning is what gives you a solid screen rather than a see-through one later.
After that, one summer clip usually holds a formal shape. The smaller leaves mean it takes a hedge trimmer far better than cherry laurel without looking shredded. As with all Prunus, cut in summer, never winter, to keep silver leaf and canker at bay.
Growth rate and renovation
It grows quickly but a touch more controllably than cherry laurel, so it holds a formal outline with less fuss. It also clips into cones, standards and topiary well, which is why you see it in pots by front doors.
Overgrown plants renovate readily: cut back hard into old wood in late spring, then feed and water, and it breaks freely from bare stems. Gather and dispose of clippings carefully — like all cherry laurels, bruised foliage is cyanogenic and unsafe around animals.
Common problems
Yellowing or bronzed leaves
Often cold or wind stress in an exposed spot, or waterlogged roots. It's hardier than cherry laurel, but mulch, improve drainage and shelter young plants from the worst winds.
Holes in the leaves (shothole)
Bacterial shothole, where damaged tissue falls out leaving neat holes. Largely cosmetic on a healthy plant; improve airflow, avoid overhead watering and feed to keep growth strong.
Silvered leaves and dying branches
Silver leaf, a fungal disease entering through pruning wounds — worst if cut in winter. Prune only in summer, remove affected wood well below the damage, and disinfect tools between cuts.
Sparse, bare base to the hedge
Usually too little early formative pruning, or dense shade at the bottom. Trim the sides in the first years to force low growth, and keep the top narrower than the base.
Everything a Portugal laurel needs
Well-watered young plants, a summer clip, and safe disposal of the cyanogenic clippings.
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Other plants with a similar temperament.
How we checked this
Care cross-checked against the RHS, which lists Prunus (incl. Portugal laurel) among potentially harmful plants — cyanogenic foliage and seeds. If our page and these sources ever disagree, believe them — and tell us.
Sources: RHS · ASPCA — toxic & non-toxic plants
Last reviewed · August 2026