How To Grow Common Privet For Very Special Shrubs And Hedges

Deciding to grow common privet (Ligustrum vulgare) is an easy choice if you need an easygoing standalone shrub or plant for hedging. Indeed, the common privet (also called European privet or wild privet) has long been a popular hedge plant. If you’re looking for the fastest growing shrubs, this one is really fast. It grows as wide as it is tall, and it is also fairly cold-hardy.

Ligustrum vulgare is easy to grow, but it has a bit of a reputation for taking over. In certain places, it is described as invasive. Fortunately, there are ways to keep it in check, so you can be sure of the most well-maintained shrubs and hedges.

Although it’s one of the least ornamental Ligustrum shrubs you can grow, common privet is excellent for hedging. It is a vigorous, medium-sized shrub with shiny, lance-shaped green leaves. These are 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) long and have a coarse texture. Common privet hedges are often used on property boundary lines.

Common privet is a deciduous shrub in certain areas and a broad-leaf evergreen shrub in others, depending on hardiness zone. Although the leaves turn purple in autumn, this is not an ornamental feature. Still, Ligustrum vulgare flowers impressively in June. The panicles of white, airy blooms are extremely fragrant. These flowers evolve into black drupe-type fruits which mature in September. These berries are the privet’s most ornamental feature. They also serve as food for wild birds.

Common privet is extremely low-maintenance, whether in shrub form or as a privet hedge. It is tolerant of almost all cultural care requirements. Just a few essentials will ensure you get the best from these easygoing types of hedging and shrub specimens.

Grow common privet either in direct sunlight or in partial