Saintpfla, sorry for the delayed response. I lost track of this thread and ran acrossed it looking for something else. I am not good at looking at pics for id's. To me it doesn't look the same but I could be wrong. On the swamp bay, if you break the leaf apart, it smells alot like bay leaf. The new leaves are soft and fuzzy and the old leaves are not. The new leaves on your pic look the same as the older ones. The flower is so very small it is hard to tell when it is open and the flower is greenish. I don't remember a smell to the flower.

Hello Ken, Yes, I like to sterilize potting-mixes too. I make my own blend. Mostly peat, harvested sand and some biochar and (sorry) "twist of lime". The sand is important as it gives good drainage AND weight to the pot. Tiffany and Gardengal, I know IDing plants can difficult and posting pictures are often the simplest way to ID plants. (I guess I posted the picture twice.) I am interested in what exactly this plant is and any available on-line plant ID sites. Thank you! Doug

Ken, I guess you didn't catch my previous post, with detailed pics of how I assemble my plant I.D. tags. Here are pics: The 1 1/2" single-sided round tag with the loop on it which is exterior to the main circle. You then personalize it by filling out a couple of lines and clicking OK. Example: Hosta Dinky Donna I get them at www.pettags4less.com. There was a recent sale at www.drs.fostersmith.com, with the aluminum pet tags like this selling for 99 cents each, which I posted, but I don't know if that sale is over. The first place sells them for $2.29. The 9" aluminum tent stake. I like this brand, as the coppery color looks nice in the garden and harmonizes with the mulch and soil a whole lot better than the red, purple, blue, etc. ones I've seen. This is the Coghlan 9" ultra lite tent stake of anodized aluminum. It won't rust and there is no paint to flake off, so it stays this color. I remove the pull-string and utilize the hole it was threaded through. The brass 1/8" diameter screw posts. I found that the 5/16" length was perfect to fasten the plant I.D. tag to the tent stake. The one in this picture is a tad longer than 5/16", but it gives you the idea. The threaded part screws into the tubular part, which has an internal threading. Neat, out of the weather, doesn't rust. They also sell screw posts in stainless steel, aluminum, and plastic, but not all come in the 1/8" diameter, which is a new product. The assembled finished product:

Sarcococca would not survive zone 5/6 or if it did, would never recover good foliage by September, unless protected. There are precious few cultivars of Prunus laurocerasus that can survive zone 5/6 like 'Otto Luyken.' Certainly it's not 'Mount Vernon.' Many of the larger-leaved laurocersus do not even do well here in zone 7 East Coast. So given its hardiness, and the fact that 'Otto Luyken' is the most available and commonly grown evergreen Prunus shrub in the Mid-Atlantic, it's extremely likely this is 'Otto Luyken'.