Variegated New Zealand Privet Hedge Plants

Griselinia littoralis variegata Hedging

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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).

View our selection of evergreen hedging plants or see our full range of hedging.

Spacing a Variegated New Zealand Privet hedge:

Plant Variegated New Zealand Privet hedging at 2 plants per metre, 50cm 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 Neudorff WeedFree Plus 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 Neudorff WeedFree Plus.
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 Care

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.
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.