Baytree question

Hi to everyone, my first post

Hi have a question about a bay tree/bush in my garden. It's about 25 feet high and is very bushy from the ground up. Will it hurt it to cut the lower branches back to the trunk. I'd like to do this to about 6 foot off the ground.

Thanks in advance.

 

I agree with MF, bays are tough and can be reshaped. However, it won't like the removal of its lower branches and may take a whole season to recover its growth pattern.

The standard shape (i.e. a neat lollipop) that we tend to associate with bay trees in pots is not their natural shape when grown in the soil unchecked. They're quite a bushy, scruffy kind of a tree.