Cherry Laurel hedge - is it safe?

Cyanide has no effect on creatures which lack the enzyme that makes it deadly. Blackbirds do not have this enzyme, we do.
I cannot find any record of anyone dying from eating Cherry laurel berries, nor from normal dealing with the leaves.

 

Are your container measurements inches or centimetres @Cardiff Garden ?
If they're inches, that's a very good size, but if they're centimetres [which I think will be the case] they aren't that big for having 3 laurel specimens in them, although I don't know what size your plants were on planting. They might be fine for a few years, but you also might find they'll burst out of the containers if they establish and do well quite quickly.
I'm also assuming the containers are closed, rather than open to the ground below, which also makes a difference.

 

Yes, the containers are 160cms long x 38 cms high and 40cms deep. I have three Cherry Laurels in two of those.

I also have two cherry laurels in a slightly shorter 120x38x40 planter.

My plan is to wait until the Cherry Laurels fill out a bit (provide a denser screen) and then I can perhaps think about taking out one of the laurels and placing it elsewhere. They shouldn't be hard to transplant if they're in planters?

 

You won't believe what I'm about to say given the fact I started this thread not long ago. But I was in my living room last week and I literally saw a primary school child (about 10 years old) eating the leaves of hedges and spitting them out on the pavement. He got as far as my BAY laurels, but didn't come to my Cherry Laurels.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

 

As I read in this article that the fruit is in fact edible I tried a ripe one myself and found I survived the experience. I did not eat the seed which I believe has a higher content of hydrogen cyanide as do the leaves and apple seed that many people will have eaten and survived. I believe the bitter taste puts people off eating these plant parts in any significant quantity. I allow the ones that were at the edge of the garden here when I moved here to flower before starting to chop off branches to keep them some way under control and actually do let the fruit I see develop as I think they provide some wildlife food.

Happy gardening!

 

I eat the very young leaves of hawthorn hedges in the spring. I don't spit them out though - that's most uncouth.

 

Not your problem re kids eating the foliage @Cardiff Garden . Responsibility of their parents, as I said earlier.

You may find the root systems will be quite entwined, so it may not be a simple procedure to shift one. Sooner rather than later will be easier.

 

Hawthorn buds are called Bread and Cheese and were often eaten in the past.

 

I've not tried it and wouldn't recommend anyone does but yew berries are edible as long as you don't eat the seed inside. I think the posh name for them is an aril.

I'm quite surprised kids would even want to eat something from a plant that hasn't been super processed. It's a long time since I've seen kids picking blackberries or scrumping apples around here.

 

Which proves the theory that kids are stupid!
Most of them grow out of it....not all, but most

 

Although I think there's something commendible about having the curiosity to try it, and the wit to spit it out when it tastes nasty...

 

Thats Darwinism in progress.
The answer to 'concerned' neighbours is one I once have been forced to use:
'stay off my property and you will be fine' !!

 

Are you on some sort of local community forum and someone has made a comment about your garden?

Every year we get stories in the press where people are concerned about one plant or other - hemlock is a common one:
Hemlock: Anger after poisonous plant found near Bucklesham school
People seem to think that the countryside should be "weeded" to keep their children safe, rather than that children should be taught what plants to avoid.

 

No one has said anything to me. Someone online mentioned that Cherry Laurels were poisonous and so I googled it and the Google search backed up their claim. It (whether they are poisonous) wasn't something that even crossed my mind to research before buying them. B&Q sell them.