Golden Privet Hedging Plants - Ligustrum ovalifolium aureum
Golden Privet - Ligustum ovalifolium Aurem - is also called Variegated Privet. It is a vigorous evergreen bush, an outstanding hedge plant, with all of Green Privet's hardy qualities and bright, pale golden colouring on the leaves. It clips very well and grows fast, forgiving the odd slip with the hedging shears, and the dense foliage tolerates roadside pollution. It can be used in a mixed hedge with Green Privet. It flowers well in summer it left untrimmed and is often used for topiary.
Planting and Care:
Golden Privet does well in almost any well drained soil except chalk. It tolerates quite deep shade and dry conditions. Privet sometimes loses its leaves in a cold winter and this is rare in sheltered urban sites.
Plant a Golden Privet hedge in a single row at 3 per metre, with 50 cms between each plant. Best for hedges of 1 or 2 metres, your plants will get much higher if you let them and a fully grown specimen plant can be about 6 metres tall. You can hard prune them in winter if they are overgrown.
Clip into shape whenever needed - the ideal shape for a hedge is slightly wider at the bottom than at the top, a bit like this: /
To see the rest of our privets, including similar plants better suited to coastal planting, take a look at our privet page