I've taken the easy route, bought two 6ft tall Indian bay leaf trees during my visit back in February to Bangladesh, wrapped them well and managed to bring them over to the UK. I potted them both in two separate  pots. One started the dying process from top to bottom the moment it was exposed to British climate (which is awful). The other just stood there as though it was frozen in time and it remained like that for three months. Then magically from the beginning of June new shoots started sprouting producing fresh shiny leaves. We are now in july and the tree has now produced little bulbs at the tip of the sprouts and I guess these bulbs will flower and produce seeds. All in all it seems to be a success, so far at least.