Golden Privet Hedging - Ligustrum ovalifolium Aureum

Golden Privet Hedging, Ligustrum ovalifolium Aureum, is a variety of Privet with rich yellow variegated edges to its leaves. It is a popular hedge plant, especially for the inner city, and it is suitable for topiary. It every bit as tough and tolerant of poor soils as the other privets, although we recommend using green privet instead if your site is very shady. Golden Privet is good for hedges up to between 3-4 metres high and can reach a full 4 metres if you grow it freely as a large shrub.

Golden Privet hedge plants are delivered bareroot during winter (Nov-March) and pot-grown year round. Bareroot Golden Privet bushes are cheaper than pot grown plants. Pot grown Golden Privet is available in the largest sizes.

Choosing a size: When you are ordering Golden 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 for topiary.
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots or pots aren't measured).

Spacing a Golden Privet hedge:
Plant Golden Privet hedging at 3 plants per metre, 33cms apart.

General description of Golden Privet plants:
Golden Privet is a large, vigorous bush with bright leaves that clip easily into a formal evergreen hedge. It is great for growing in trouble spots in the city. It does really well on poor or dry soils, in partial shade and it isn't affected by air pollution. It can grow in exposed sites near the sea, although constant wind will slow its growth.
If it is grown as a specimen shrub, it will produce good sized cones (called panicles) of scented white flowers in summer that attract butterflies. These will mature into shiny, bitter little fruits that are eaten by several types of songbirds.
Old privet hedges respond very well to hard pruning.
Privet can lose its leaves in harsh winters: this is normal and doesn't hurt your plants.

History & uses of Ligustrum ovalifolium Aureum
This Japanese plant was recorded by Western botanists in 1862 and introduced to Britain soon afterwards. You may see it listed in some old books as Ligustrum ovalifolium Aureomarginatum. It has won an RHS Award of Garden Merit for handsome plants that are easy to grow.

Growing Golden Privet plants:
Golden 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 urban houses and it does well in partial 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 a hardy evergreen, 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 Rootgrow mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of new trees and shrubs.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £6.50 + 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.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

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.

Misc	RHS AGM, Shrub, Wildlife Value
Shade	Full Shade, Partial Shade
Area	Coastal Areas, Exposed Windy Areas
Soil	Acidic, Alkaline/Chalky
Colour	White/Cream
Type	Evergreen, Hedging, Screening
Also Good	Fragrant, Variegated
Flowering	Jul

	NUMBER OF PLANTS
SIZES	1-9	10-49	50-249	250-999	1000+
30/40 cm Bareroot	Out of Stock £2.49	Out of Stock £1.69	Out of Stock £1.49	Out of Stock £1.29	Out of Stock £1.09
40/60 cm Bareroot	Out of Stock £3.00	Out of Stock £2.37	Out of Stock £2.15	Out of Stock £1.75	Out of Stock £1.55
60/80 cm Bareroot	Out of Stock £3.95	Out of Stock £3.25	Out of Stock £2.95	Out of Stock £2.75	Out of Stock £2.39

Golden Privet Hedging Plants

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Golden Privet Hedging - Ligustrum ovalifolium Aureum