Bay tree

The nice people at Interflora offered me the chance to review one of their products and I plumped for one of their outdoor plants – a bay tree. The bay, Laurus nobilis, is a very useful culinary herb and I used to have a little bay tree, but it died one winter and wasn’t replaced.

As you can see, the plant that arrived from Interflora has been grown as a standard, which makes it look very impressive if you’re looking for a gift for a kitchen gardener or keen cook. It arrived in a gargantuan box – it was nearly as tall as I am. I am a bit of a nerd for cardboard engineering, and this packaging was lovely – the carton has a cardboard pull strip round the middle, so you can lift the top of it off completely to get to the plant. The plant itself is wedged into a special base plate, which has handles so you can pull it out of the base of the box and free the plant – all whilst keeping it entirely upright. It’s very clever, and entirely compostable/ recyclable. Pete is currently using the two halves as storage containers for the shredded paper we use in the chicken’s nest boxes; the bottom half even has cut-out handles.

The only vaguely negative comment I would make is that they included their standard ‘Care Guide’ leaflet, which refers only to flowers and is therefore completely irrelevant.

The other edible plant they offer is a standard olive, and I’ve had one of those since May. It’s currently outside in the garden looking very happy, and I will move it into the Grow Dome for the winter. Both trees will need potting on for the spring, I think.

Interflora mainly offer flower delivery, of course, including the same day flower delivery which is so useful when you’ve forgotten someone’s birthday or a baby arrives. They also offer a lovely selection of orchids, which (judging by the comments the ladies at my craft club made) are very in at the moment.

I currently have two more bay trees in the garden, but they’re just seedlings – they have sprouted from the baycorns that Esther very kindly sent me. It has taken them a while! Hopefully they will both survive into adulthood, as they are from a lovely golden bay which will look very pretty. So I shouldn’t be short of bay leaves for very much longer ;)


You may not have found it yet, but there’s a special section of the website dedicated to gardening offers and coupons, and there’s currently an Interflora offer on there if you’re thinking of placing an order.