DescriptionPlanting InstructionsAfter CareDelivery & Guarantee
Variegated New Zealand Privet Hedge Plants - Delivered by Mail Order from the Nursery with a 1 Year Guarantee
Variegated New Zealand Privet, Griselinia littoralis variegata, is a form of Griselinia with a creamy-white margin on the leaves. It grows well on windy, sunny coastal sites and it is happy on any well drained soil. It is a good hedge plant and can also be grown as small specimen tree.
Variegated New Zealand Privet is good for hedges up to about 7 metres high.
Variegated New Zealand Privet hedge plants are only delivered pot-grown, year round.
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the pots aren't measured).
Spacing a Variegated New Zealand Privet hedge:
Plant Variegated New Zealand Privet hedging at 2 plants per metre, 50cms apart.
General description of Variegated New Zealand Privet plants:
This large, evergreen shrub has lush, thick leaves form an effective windbreak. Each leaf has a whitish margin that can cover half the leaf.
We really recommend Variegated Griselinia for planting in the full sun; it will tolerate a little shade, but this will slow its growth and may cause its variegated leaved to revert to green.
It will grow on any well drained soil, including shallow chalk and very poor, sandy soils. Griselinia is suitable for exposed, windy sites, but we recommend using Portugal Laurel instead if you live in Scotland or the North East coast of England.
Griselinia is resistant to honey fungus.
History & uses of Griselinia littoralis variegata
This plant was first imported from New Zealand in 1850. It has won the RHS Award of Garden Merit and the Award of Merit for use in displays of cut stems.
Growing Variegated New Zealand Privet plants:
New Zealand Privet will thrive in any sunny, well drained conditions. It is suitable for very windy sites right on the coast, but it isn't hardy enough for inland frost pockets and it may struggle in Scotland and the North East coast; Portugal Laurel is a good alternative for cold regions.
Griselinia will not grow on wet sites with poor drainage or in the shade. If your site has some partial shade, we recommend using green Griselinia instead.
Prepare your site before planting:
It is good to dig over the area where you plant a hedge several months in advance, especially if the soil is poor. Destroy the weeds first: nettles, brambles and ground elder are tough and a glyphosate based weed-killer is the best way to remove them. Then dig the soil over; remove rocks, roots and other rubbish. Mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades. If your soil is rich, you don't have to dig it over, but killing all the weeds is still necessary.
Watch our video on how to plant a garden hedge for full details. The plants in this video are delivered pot-grown, but planting out bareroot stock is essentially the same.
Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.
Hedge Planting Accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Roundup weed killer.
You can buy a hedge planting pack with sheets of mulch fabric and pegs to hold it down.
If your soil quality is poor, we recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of new trees and shrubs.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser and Growmore.
After you have planted your Variegated New Zealand Privet hedge, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. You will also need to weed around the plants. Watering should be thorough, so the ground is soaked. Let the soil almost dry out before watering again. Watering & weeding will be necessary for at least a year after planting.
Like all evergreen plants, Variegated New Zealand Privet is active and needs moisture in the ground throughout the year. This means that your establishing plants need to be watered in the winter when they are planted, if the weather is dry.
Trimming Formal hedge plants: Variegated New Zealand Privet doesn't need any clipping at all in its first year. In the winter of the following year, your young hedge should be trimmed lightly and every winter after that until it is mature.
When it is fully grown, you can clip it at anytime. The ideal time is late spring to early summer, after the risk of spring frosts has passed.
Griselinia responds well to hard pruning and it can be cut back down to stumps if necessary.
Special notes on caring for Variegated New Zealand Privet hedges:
Variegated New Zealand Privet is a very tough hedge plant that shouldn't need special attention once it has established. If you didn't use a mulch fabric, it is beneficial to mulch around the base of the hedge each year with well rotted manure or compost.
Reversion: Individual stems of variegated plants sometimes revert back to their plain, non-variegated form. Prune these stems off as soon as they appear.
Hygiene & Diseases:
Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.
Disinfect your pruning tools between every cut if there is any sign of disease.
Burn or dispose of any diseased material, do not compost it.
Read our full terms and conditions here.
Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £9.49 + vat, which increases to £12.55 + vat if you add any pot-grown plants, standard trees or fruit trees to the order.
Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
You can choose the delivery week that suits you during checkout and we will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.
Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.
Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.
Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.
Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.
Your 12 Month Guarantee
If any plants die within a year, we replace them if you have followed our instructions. You only pay for
the delivery of the replacements.
Place an order for £250 excluding VAT and delivery and we deliver it for FREE!
Bare-root Plants are only delivered in the winter season, from November to March. Pot grown plants can be delivered all year round
Advantages of Bare-root plants:
You pay less for the same size plants.
You can carry and plan them easily.
You only plant them in winter, so they need less maintenance after
planting. The rain will water them for their first few months.
You get the biggest selection: Many trees are not sold pot-grown.
They are "asleep" in winter - this is the best time to transplant any tree.
They use fewer fertilisers & fungicides, less water and fuel in their production & delivery.
Advantages of Pot Grown plants:
Pot grown plants can be delivered & planted all year round.
Plants with tender roots & larger specimens must be delivered in pots.
Plants in pots can be kept for months longer if there is a delay in planting.
Our Advice to You:
If you can't wait to get planting, order Pot grown plants now.
If you are not in a hurry, order bare-root plants for delivery this winter. Simply add them to your basket and choose a winter delivery date that suits you during checkout.
This will reserve your plants before they sell out.
We won't charge you until the day before delivery, so cancelling your order is always easy.
If you are only ordering chemicals and other small items, delivery is £3.50
Our delivery charge for most bareroot plants is £9.49 + VAT.
If your order contains any standard sized trees, fruit trees or pot-grown plants, then the delivery charge is £12.55 + VAT in TOTAL.
If you live in the Scottish Highlands or the Isle of Wight, there will be an extra charge of £15 + VAT on top of the appropriate basic charge, as listed above.
If your order is over £250 exc. VAT, there will be no delivery charge.
If you are uncertain, just add items to your basket which will calculate the basic shipping charge for you.
