Ligustrum vulgare

Ligustrum vulgare, the wild privet, is a large native shrub that makes a great country hedging plant. It's the only semi-evergreen in our range of privet hedge plants, losing its leaves in mid-winter in cold weather. This hardy, shade-tolerant bush is often planted to provide cover, while its berries are valuable food for all kinds of wildlife, including game. It's also the main food source of the privet hawk moth, Britain's largest native moth. Do bear in mind, however, that like other members of the privet family, the shoots and leaves of wild privet are poisonous, so keep it away from livestock. It will perform well in any averagely fertile soil, even in dry or quite damp places, where it is better than green privet . It's a natural choice for coastal hedging.

Going native

Wild privet has an average growth rate of 20-40cm a year, and it's ideal for a rural site, whereas Japanese privet and common privet are better suited to towns and cities. It's often planted as a mixed native hedge, where species such hawthorn and guelder rose will add to the berry and flower bonanza, attracting even more beneficial wildlife.

An Elizabethan favourite

Wild privet is found all over Europe, parts of North Africa and eastwards as far as Iraq. It's been used extensively as hedging since Elizabethan times, but has been almost entirely replaced by green privet, which was introduced from Japan in the 1880s.

Growing Wild Privet plants:
Wild Privet will grow well in any moderately fertile soil with decent drainage. It is hardy, drought resistant and suitable for exposed coastal sites. It is shade tolerant and loves chalky soil. It won't grow well in very poor soils or in places that get waterlogged in winter.

Prepare your site before planting:
Native hedge plants like Wild Privet are 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 country hedge for full details. The instruction to cut the plants in half after planting only applies to thorny native hedging and plants in the conservation hedge mix: this isn't necessary for Wild Privet.
Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Hedge Planting Accessories:
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	Wildlife Value
Shade	Partial Shade
Area	Exposed Windy Areas
Soil	Acidic, Alkaline/Chalky
Colour	White/Cream
Type	Evergreen, Hedging, Native

	NUMBER OF PLANTS
SIZES	1-9	10-49	50-249	250-999	1000+
40/60 cm Bareroot	Out of Stock £2.20	Out of Stock £1.60	Out of Stock £1.48	Out of Stock £1.26	Out of Stock £1.06
60/80 cm Bareroot	Out of Stock £2.70	Out of Stock £1.95	Out of Stock £1.69	Out of Stock £1.49	Out of Stock £1.29

Ligustrum vulgare for Sale

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Ligustrum vulgare

Going native

An Elizabethan favourite