Hedging Plants – Privet

Name – known botanically as Ligustrum ovalifolium. The plant has been used so extensively for privacy hedging that it developed the name ‘privet’ = private.

Description and uses – this semi-evergreen fast growing dense hedge with its medium sized leaves and clusters of creamy-white flowers in July, is highly attractive to insects. Privet is shade tolerant and creates a very fast growing and dense hedge.

Maintenance and problems – Because privet is fast-growing it should be trimmed as necessary to maintain hedges of three to twelve feet tall. For complete sound and sight screening, plant in a staggered double row with fifteen inches between rows and eighteen inches between plants. One common problem is privet thrips, which are tiny creatures that suck the sap from the leaves which turns them silver and flecked and prevents them developing to their full size. The other problem is honey fungus which is extremely fond of privet hedges and always starts by causing poor growth. Then individual plants in the hedge start to die off. If your hedge develops honey fungus you'll have to dig the whole hedge out and re-plant it. Privet’s leaves and berries are poisonous to people and animals, and its pollen can cause breathing problems for some people, notably asthmatics.

Hedging privet photograph by Akuppa, used under a creative commons attribution licence

hedging yew, hedging berberis, hedging box, hedging cotoneaster, hedging currant, hedging dogwood, hedging edible, hedging euonymus, hedging gorse, hedging guelder rose, hedging hawthorn, hedging hazel, hedging holly, hedging hornbeam, hedging juniper, hedging laurel, hedging Lavender, hedging leyland cypress, hedging photinia, hedging potentilla, hedging privet, hedging pyracantha, hedging rose, hedging sloe, hedging thuja