Ligustrum ovalifolium 'Aureum' (Golden Privet) – Hedging Shrub (7.5L Pot)

Golden privet, an oval leaved hedging shrub whose leaves carry bright gold margins around dark green centres.

The colour is at its strongest in full sun and softens towards green in shade, so give it an open spot if you want the brightest hedge. Growth is upright, dense and quick, and it responds well to clipping, which makes it as good for topiary and formal boundaries as for an informal screen. Left unpruned it reaches around 4m each way, but it is easily held at any hedge height.

It takes chalk, clay, loam or sand, and stands cold, exposed and city gardens. Small scented white flowers open in July and are excellent for bees and moths, though a tightly clipped hedge loses them. Privet is only semi evergreen, holding its leaves through a mild winter and dropping many in a hard one, and a hedge needs three or four trims a year to stay dense. Every privet is poisonous to dogs, cats and horses. Supplied as a large, well established plant with a 7.5L root ball, ready to plant straight into the ground or a big container.

Cultural Information

• Common Name: Golden privet
• Fully Grown Height and Spread: Up to 4m by 4m unpruned, easily kept to any hedge height
• Growth Habit: Upright, dense and bushy
• Perfect For: Formal and informal hedging, topiary, borders, boundaries, large containers
• Foliage: Oval leaves with bright golden yellow margins and dark green centres, semi evergreen
• Flowering Time: July, small scented white flowers
• Planting Position: Full sun, partial shade or full shade; it copes with drought, pollution and salt wind once established
• Soil Type: Most well drained soils, including chalk, clay, loam and sand
• Hardiness: Fully hardy
• Maintenance: Trim two or three times through the growing season
• Seasonal Interest: Summer and autumn
• Type: Semi evergreen shrub