Bay tree near building

bouicca21

A tiny bit - maybe just over 2.5 metres - of the garden in front of my flat is demised to me.



When I moved in it was weed choked which seems to have kept the larger bushes in check. Now they are growing strongly. The bay tree in particular is racing away - how tall do they get and is it likely to become a danger to the foundations? It was maybe a metre tall when I moved in 5 years ago but is now 2 metres and is about a metre from the building.


PS there is also a mock orange and another large (a bit under 1.5 metres) bush of unknown type, both much closer to the building.

KrsyW

Bay trees can grow to over 20 feet tall.

I'm not entirely sure about the root structure of a bay, but if you prune the top out you can potentially restrict the growth to it's current height - chances are that at this height the roots won't develop to a point that causes problems.

Davesnave

You mention the size of the shrub, but it's likely that the most important thing here is the age of the building.

If it's over 100 years old, there won't be much in the way of foundations, but if the property was built in this century, then you'll have at least a metre of concrete. A 2m shrub isn't going to threaten that!

Bay take cutting back really well, as they sprout from old wood, so even if you're brutal, it will recover. We took ours down from about 3m to a comfortable 1.8m and we keep it in check with an annual trim. You have to make a lot of spaghetti bolognese to use up a bay tree's leaves once it gets going!

As for the Philadelphus, it wont mind being severely reduced either.

bouicca21

Built in 1964. So I can keep it? Good cos I really like it.

in_my_wellies

I had a mahonia growing outside my lounge window. Eventually it grew inside the lounge behind an oak desk to the right of the window. It was about 3' tall before we noticed it peeping out from behind the desk. It became a bit of a novelty. The children hung Christmas decorations on it and my husband joked that he didn't cut it down as it was the only house plant we hadn't managed to kill off.
I cut it down to sell the house as I didn't think it would look too good on the survey

Davesnave

bouicca21 wrote: »

Built in 1964. So I can keep it? Good cos I really like it.

Oh yes, '64 was a pretty good year. Maybe not so good as '84, or 2014, but quite respectable.

twopenny

I had two, one front one back growing outside a 1920's semi. No problems at all.
My great grandfather had one growing outside too, the house was old, wattle and daube interior and it sat there from the 1st WW at least. It was fine.
If it's that size and there's no damage showing I'd say you were fine with it because it must have been there for ages.
Said to protect the house and those in it.

Apodemus

Depending on where in the country you are, you might be better to leave any pruning until next spring, to avoid risk of frost damage.