DescriptionPlanting InstructionsAfter CareDelivery & GuaranteeReviews(2)
Privet Hedge Plants - Delivered by Mail Order from the Nursery with a 1 Year Guarantee
Green Privet, Ligustrum ovalifolium, is one of the best evergreen hedging plants for the city. It grows quickly, clips very nicely and it will grow in poor, compacted soil in the shade, next to a busy road. It is a good plant for simple topiary.
Privet hedges will reach 4 metres high, perhaps a bit more if it grows freely as a large shrub.
You can also buy variegated Golden Privet and native Wild Privet from our nursery.
Privet hedge plants are delivered bareroot during winter (Nov-March) and pot-grown year round. Bareroot Privet bushes are cheaper than pot grown plants. Pot grown Privet is available in the largest sizes.
Choosing a size: When you are ordering Privet plants for a hedge, we generally recommend that you use smaller plants. They are cheaper than large plants, easier to handle and they will establish well in poor conditions. Use larger plants if you want a taller hedge quickly, if you want to clip them as topiary or for instant impact.
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots or pot aren't measured).
Spacing a Privet hedge:
Plant Privet hedging at 3 plants per metre, 33cms apart in a single row.
General description of Privet plants:
Privet is a big shrub that is evergreen in most of Britain, although it may drop its leaves in a harsh Northern winter. This doesn't really affect the cover it provides: the inside of a mature privet hedge has densely packed twigs that block light pretty well. The lush, oval leaves are deep green.
Privet is a really useful hedge plant for difficult spots; its only requirement is decent drainage. It will grow vigorously on the worst soils, it seems immune to air pollution and it doesn't mind being used as a toilet by the local dogs and cats.
Privet regrows quickly from a harsh clipping. Old privet hedges that have become sparse can be hard pruned down to about 50cms. They will regrow vigorously.
If you grow it as a shrub, it will become a large, dense bush about 5 metres tall with cones of scented white flowers in summer, followed by pretty clusters of small black fruit in early autumn. Although Green Privet is not native, its leaves and fruit are eaten by butterfly caterpillars and birds respectively. If your children keep stick insects as pets, you will know that privet is their favourite food.
History & uses of Ligustrum ovalifolium
Green privet is a Japanese plant that was introduced to Britain in 1885. The Victorians fell in love with it because it grew happily in their polluted, smoggy inner cities and also because it is so easy to propagate: anyone could start their own privet hedge, at no cost, from the clippings of a neighbour's hedge.
Growing Privet plants:
Privet will grow well in any conditions with average soil drainage. It thrives in the poor, compacted soil that is often found in the front gardens of town houses and it does well in the shade. It is suitable for exposed sites (although it won't grow quite so quickly) and can grow quite close to the sea; if you are right on the coast, we recommend planting the similar looking New Zealand Privet (Griselinia) instead. Established privet plants are drought resistant.
Privet is very hardy, but please note that it does tend to lose its leaves for a couple of months in harsh winters. This is normal and doesn't damage the plants.
Privet will not grow well in soil that is too boggy.
Prepare your site before planting:
Privet is very tough. The only essential preparation is to kill the weeds in a strip a metre wide along the planting site: improving the soil should not be necessary. If your soil is exceptionally poor and dry, then digging in some well rotted manure and/or compost is worthwhile.
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 you are planting in an area with rabbit and/or deer, you will need to use a plastic spiral guard for each plant, supported by a bamboo cane.
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 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, 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: Our Privet doesn't need any clipping at all in its first year. In the winter of the year after planting, 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.
Old privet hedges or bushes can be pruned hard, down to stumps about 30-50cms high. They will regrow beautifully.
Special notes on caring for Privet hedges:
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.
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.
I was given a whole week to expect delivery of the privet trees I had ordered. By the Friday I had almost given up and was about to ring to complain. I'm glad I didn't. They arrived late on the Friday afternoon and they were in beautiful condition, every bit as good as I had hoped. They're all planted now and I am waiting for them to flourish into the hedge I had planned. So thank you very much for providing such good quality plants. Alan Proctor,Apr 2012
We just wanted to say how pleased we are with the privets that we ordered from you. All 100 have taken well. The delivery was quick and privets were well packed.
We transported them in our roof box to France and planted them at Easter. 7 weeks later, on our return to France we were delighted to see them all flourishing and the hedge greening up nicely.
I would have no hesitation in using you again and in fact am currently considering some buxus for a small parterre garden.
Merci beaucoup Anita Appleton,Jun 2010
Your 12 Month Guarantee
If any of the plants that you buy from our nursery die within a year of delivery, we will replace them.
You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.
We do ask for clear photos of the plants in the soil, both taking in the planting area and close up. These will help us to work out what went wrong so we can give you the right advice for looking after your replacements.
The most important thing to do with establishing plants is to water them in dry weather. Water very thoroughly, but not too frequently: allow the top 2 inches of soil to dry out before you water again. In hot summer weather, this should mean that you are watering 1 to 3 times per week, depending on your site's drainage and exposure to wind and sun.
If there is heavy rain, that counts as a watering for your plants. If there is only very light rain during hot weather, this probably won't be of much use to your plants and they will still need watering.
Weeding is also very important; we strongly recommend using a mulch mat (for trees) or mulch fabric (for hedges) if weeding your new plants will be impractical.
Outside your 1 Year Guarantee period?
If your plants die or get sick after their first year, you are still welcome to take some photos and send them in: we will still be happy to give you what advice we can.
We can't make any promises, but if you want to buy replacements from us, give us a call and we'll see if we can arrange a discount for you.
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.
