DescriptionDelivery & Guarantee
Spotted Laurel - Aucuba japonica Variegata
One of the Japanese laurels, Spotted Laurel is large shrub or small evergreen tree. Its large, tough, pointed leaves are mid green with cream markings.
Spotted Laurel is usually grown as a hedge and it is also a good specimen for a shady corner.
You can browse all of our other Laurel Hedging Plants for sale here.
This is also the most drought tolerant of the laurels (when it is established) and does in dry spots under other trees.
It is a superb screening plant and its heavy, pollution tolerant leaves are an effective noise barrier.
As it matures, it sends up shoots from the base that make an old Aucuba hedge almost solid in the middle.
This make it equally suited as roadside hedging or screening in a nudist colony.
Trimming Spotted Laurel:
- Your plants need no trimming at all for their first year.
- Until they reach the desired height, all you need to do is pinch out the tips of the stems in winter to encourage bushy growth in spring.
- Mature Spotted laurel hedges are best clipped back with secatuers - it takes longer, but you don't end up with lots of ragged leaves with brown edges.
If left untrimmed, Spotted Laurel produces small purple flowers in late spring which are followed by red berries that can be held until late winter.
Aucuba reaches 3-4 metres.
It grows more slowly than other laurels - 30cms is good growth for a season - so it is easy to keep in shape.
All parts of Spotted Laurel are poisonous to humans and livestock.
The Aucuba berries are eaten by some birds but taste very bitter to us, so children are at no risk of eating one.
Read our full terms and conditions here.
Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £9.49 + vat, which increases to £12.55 + vat if you add any pot-grown plants, standard trees or fruit trees to the order.
Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
You can choose the delivery week that suits you during checkout and we will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.
Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.
Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.
Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.
Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.
Your 12 Month Guarantee
If any plants die within a year, we replace them if you have followed our instructions. You only pay for
the delivery of the replacements.
Place an order for £250 excluding VAT and delivery and we deliver it for FREE!
Bare-root Plants are only delivered in the winter season, from November to March. Pot grown plants can be delivered all year round
Advantages of Bare-root plants:
You pay less for the same size plants.
You can carry and plan them easily.
You only plant them in winter, so they need less maintenance after
planting. The rain will water them for their first few months.
You get the biggest selection: Many trees are not sold pot-grown.
They are "asleep" in winter - this is the best time to transplant any tree.
They use fewer fertilisers & fungicides, less water and fuel in their production & delivery.
Advantages of Pot Grown plants:
Pot grown plants can be delivered & planted all year round.
Plants with tender roots & larger specimens must be delivered in pots.
Plants in pots can be kept for months longer if there is a delay in planting.
Our Advice to You:
If you can't wait to get planting, order Pot grown plants now.
If you are not in a hurry, order bare-root plants for delivery this winter. Simply add them to your basket and choose a winter delivery date that suits you during checkout.
This will reserve your plants before they sell out.
We won't charge you until the day before delivery, so cancelling your order is always easy.
If you are only ordering chemicals and other small items, delivery is £3.50
Our delivery charge for most bareroot plants is £9.49 + VAT.
If your order contains any standard sized trees, fruit trees or pot-grown plants, then the delivery charge is £12.55 + VAT in TOTAL.
If you live in the Scottish Highlands or the Isle of Wight, there will be an extra charge of £15 + VAT on top of the appropriate basic charge, as listed above.
If your order is over £250 exc. VAT, there will be no delivery charge.
If you are uncertain, just add items to your basket which will calculate the basic shipping charge for you.
