Fall Planting? Skip the Schip Laurels

Schip Laurels (also called “Skip” Laurels) and Cherry Laurels are very popular landscape shrubs around the Main Line. Their glossy, evergreen foliage provides year-round privacy and is usually overlooked by deer. This makes it a top choice among homeowners that are looking for a fast-growing, evergreen shrub.

Despite their attractiveness, Schip Laurels and Cherry Laurels are the most pest-prone landscape plant that I encounter. Even more so than the notoriously high-maintenance Boxwood.

The 2023 season was particularly challenging for Laurels on the Main Line, especially Devon, PA. Prone to winter desiccation, Laurels started the 2023 year with brown, dried-out foliage.

Next, as temperatures warmed and remained mild early in February and March, the Cherry Shot Hole fungus attacked these Laurels, leaving unsightly holes and yellowing foliage on the shrubs across the area. Desiccation, or “winter burn” and cherry shot hole will not kill Laurels on their own, but they do cause plants to look very unsightly, sometimes for months at a time.

Winter burn (brown leaves) and Cherry Shot Hole fungus on Schip Laurel foliage. Photo by Richard Buckley, Rutgers University.

Once the high temperatures of summer hit, the scale populations exploded, completely covering the bark of our shrubs with white Prunicola scale. This scale can quickly kill off entire sections of Laurels before you even notice they are there. Even with the highest labeled dosage of toxic pesticides, this scale is very challenging to control. These scale usually have three generations of offspring per year in our region, with each female laying 100 eggs at a time. It is easy to see how populations can quickly explode.

White Prunicola Scale on Schip Laurels.

But WAIT, there’s more! These Laurels are also plagued by Phytophtora Root Rot, a fungal pathogen that enters the roots through the soil and affects the plant’s ability to absorb and transport water and nutrients. As a result, sections of the plant begin to wilt, turn brown and die. Root rot thrives in poorly drained soil, which we have a lot of around the Main Line due to our heavy clay composition and stormwater run off problems. While fungicides can be used to prevent and control Root Rot, without remedying soil drainage, efforts to save the shrub are mostly futile.

Photo from Windridge Landscaping blog post on Laurel problems.

Finally, in some areas of the United States, Cherry Laurel is considered an invasive species. Due to our gradually warming climate, it is likely that Cherry Laurel will be invasive in our region at some point in the coming decades.

For a longer lasting, healthier shrub that requires less toxic pesticide use, please consider planting alternatives to Schip and Cherry Laurels this fall. I am particularly fond of several varieties of semi-deciduous Viburnum that are much more pest-resistant such as Prague Viburnum and Leatherleaf Viburnum.

Prague Viburnum.