Bay Trees

To grow a standard Bay is a slow job. They are not easy to propagate.Only yesterday ,looking at my standard which has taken seven years to be what it is today ,and thinking it looked a bit straggly I pruned it and have potted up fifteen cuttings ,using rooting powder and gritty compost,and they are to stay in the heated propagator for a long time before ,hopefully,a few may root.
I cut in half ,the top four leaves which I left at the top of each cutting which are mostly around five inches long.
Seeing the price of the standards in the Garden centre,over £100 each,I felt it worth the effort . It would be wise to keep baby bays in doors during the winter ,although my mature one now lives out all the year without problems.

Buy a small bush from a herb nursery (or that section of the garden centre), choose one that is not bushy. Trim off all shoots to leave one nice straight one. Let this grow to the approx height that you want for the top of the standard, then take off all lower leaves and pinch out the tip.Then every spring, before it starts to throw out new shoots, pinch back all little branches in the head. Keep it as a tight shape by pinching, it will soon bush out.