How to Grow Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis)

Does anyone here have much experience growing bay laurel. Specifically the culinary version? I've been researching it but am finding conflicting information, plus the fact that laurel means different things to different people. What I'm interested in is Laurus nobilis. I want to be able to pluck the leaves off and either add them to soups and stews directly or dry them and store them if needed.

Some questions for anyone who might have experience with these:
1. Do they drop their leaves in winter? I am in zone 8b. If I plant this outside, will it act like any other deciduous tree and just regrow it's leaves in the spring? Or will it maintain its leaves overwinter?
2. I understand they are toxic to animals. Does anyone whose growing one indoors have pets and know if it's one of those plants that animals generally know not to eat. If I drop a clove of garlic on the ground, my dog will sniff it and know to leave it be. If I drop a strawberry on the ground, my dog will sniff it and look at me to see if I'll let her have it. Do I need to be concerned about the tree dropping leaves or can animals tell that its one of those things to leave be?
3. Can you grow these as a bush more than as a tree? I don't need a giant tree right now, but a six-foot bush would be great. Is it manageable to keep it that size?
4. Where did you get yours from. It seems they are easy to propagate, but I don't know anyone around me who has one. Do you order them online?

Bought the tree in a little pot and grew it for about a year as a house plant.  Really slow growing.  It was about 8 inches when I bought it and was up to about 2 feet before I set it out trying to get it to grow better and lost it to something eating most of it.  If I tried again I would try for a bit bigger pot and half a dozen or a dozen in that pot.

i have had the same bay tree since i was 8, in 1986, pruned into a bush shape. it’s in a pot that i bring in when it drops below 20°F. i’ve had it lose its leaves at around 16°. when well established it would probably be fine to lose and regrow leaves repeatedly but i try to avoid it. i bought at a local farm stand/greenhouse business, and i see them at similar kinds of places now.

They are evergreen, slow growing and easy to propagate by cuttings.  In a pot it will stay relatively small but if it gets too big you can always prune it, hang the branches to dry and pluck the leaves and save for cooking.  I've heard they are only hardy to zone 9 but I have never gotten more than some light damage down in the mid teens so I don't bother protecting it anymore.  I bought mine at a local nursery 10-12 years ago, just a little 6-8 inch stick with a few leaves.  It's about 3 or 4 feet tall now and not very bushy, but I use bay leaves a lot in the kitchen.  It is in a pot and doesn't seem to be bothered when I forget to water it for long stretches in the summer.  I'm considering planting it in the ground since winters aren't as cold around here as they used to be.  I'm pretty sure where you are a bay tree would need little to no protection once established.  Also, I've never had issues with anything eating, or even nibbling, it.  If you like to cook with bay leaves, it is worth searching out, fresh leaves are far superior to dried.

Mark Griffin wrote:They are evergreen, slow growing and easy to propagate by cuttings.  In a pot it will stay relatively small but if it gets too big you can always prune it, hang the branches to dry and pluck the leaves and save for cooking.  I've heard they are only hardy to zone 9 but I have never gotten more than some light damage down in the mid teens so I don't bother protecting it anymore.  I bought mine at a local nursery 10-12 years ago, just a little 6-8 inch stick with a few leaves.  It's about 3 or 4 feet tall now and not very bushy, but I use bay leaves a lot in the kitchen.  It is in a pot and doesn't seem to be bothered when I forget to water it for long stretches in the summer.  I'm considering planting it in the ground since winters aren't as cold around here as they used to be.  I'm pretty sure where you are a bay tree would need little to no protection once established.  Also, I've never had issues with anything eating, or even nibbling, it.  If you like to cook with bay leaves, it is worth searching out, fresh leaves are far superior to dried.

That's good to know. I wasn't sure if dry leaves would be more concentrated/fragrant than fresh or not. I imagine that as with most spices the ones that you buy at the store have also been sitting around for however long and are starting to lose potency as well. Nothing will match leaves picked minutes before being used.

Here in Hamburg 7a, I've killed a number of bay trees that I got about 10 inches tall from the local garden center.  Maybe the ground is too wet, maybe it gets too cold in the winter, maybe I just have a black thumb. (Yes.)

In Seattle 8a, I got a gift certificate from work for a very nice local garden center, and got a larger plant about 3 feet.  When I left it was 30 feet high and growing.  I'm pretty sure you can clip it to a bush if you keep on top of it.  It wants to send out lots of suckers, and it stays evergreen over winters.

There are only so many bay leaves one person needs, and a healthy bush will provide much more than that.  Share with friends!

Many years ago, when we lived in southern England  we bought a 12" potted bay from a nearby herb nursery. Two years running I thought I'd killed it by leaving it outside in the winter. One year, to add to its indignity, it spent the winter lying on its side since I thought it was dead. Several house moves and over 30 years later it was still living in a pot and wasn't looking very healthy. I planted it out into the garden and it thrived. It was sheltered from the prevailing wind by an old barn but I think it would have done OK anywhere as there was already another bay tree at the front of the house directly facing into the prevailing wind. Both of them grew so well that I had to trim them every year. As the cuttings I took didn't survive when we moved house again (my fault, I'm really not good at looking after my plants), my dear husband bought me 2 potted plants (he doesn't understand that I really wanted MY bay tree but he does try and I'm thankful for that) and this time I brought them inside for the winter but hope to get them out into the garden when they're bigger. I think they are tougher plants than people say. I have seen them trimmed into lollipops (there was a fashion for having 2 outside your front door a few years back) and spirals as well as just being left to do their own thing so keeping them a manageable size should be no problem.