How to Make a Cherry Laurel Shrub Bushier

Cherry laurel or Carolina cherry laurel (Prunus caroliniana) is a favorite hedge and landscape evergreen shrub for homeowners in USDA hardiness zones 7 to 10. Native to the southeastern United States, the shrub blooms white flower clusters in the spring that produce blue, cherry-shaped berries. The glossy green foliage helps make cherry laurel shrubs attractive year-round. Cherry laurel shrubs are fast growing, reaching heights of 10 to 15 feet, and therefore, if not pruned, will not fill in and become bushy. Begin your pruning routine of cherry laurel shrubs when the shrub is small to create a compact bush and control the size and shape.

Pruning shears or loppers
Hand shears

Instructions

- 1
  Trim out any dead, dying or broken branches from the cherry laurel. Not only will these branches interfere with the development of new growth, but leaving dead and broken branches on the shrub will make your cherry laurel appear unattractive and unkempt.
- 2
  Select interior branches of the shrub to cut with pruners or loppers. Make the cut on a branch 10 to 15 inches from the base of the shrub and above a node or bud. A node is a leaf stem or thin branch. Select nodes that are facing outward to promote new growth in an outward direction. Starting your cherry laurel pruning with the interior branches will increase interior foliage to create a fuller and bushier shrub.
- 3
  Use hand pruners or loppers to cut exterior branches back to a node farther down the branch. By removing the terminal bud at the end of a branch, you will be forcing the lateral buds along the branch to grow and fill in the shrub. Your cuts should conform to the shape you want your cherry laurel to be.

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