See below for hard pruning.

May 13, How to Prune an Overgrown Laurel. Part of the series: Grow Guru. Pruning an overgrown laurel will encourage healthier growth in the future.

Your laurel plant needs some room to breathe!

Prune an overgrow. Mar 13, Generally, mountain laurel plants require little pruning. However, as with any plant, it is sometimes necessary to prune dead, damaged, crossing branches or water sprouts from mountain laurel plants.

While mountain laurel plants tend to have an open, airy growth habit, it may also be necessary to prune out some inner branches to promote good air circulation throughout the plant, and also allow more sunlight in to the center of the plant.

Mountain laurel plants Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins. Nov 16, Cut back mountain laurels to an overall height of 6 inches to 1 foot when they become leggy -- lose foliage in the bottom third of the plant -- or no longer flower well in the late winter to early. In terms of pruning, do nothing. Laurel is an evergreen and as such it is never truly dormant, although activity in colder months is slow.

Trimming the plants too soon means that the wounds will bleed without the roots having had time to establish and"drive" the plant.