Privet hedge plants

Privet hedges (Ligustrum ovalifolium) description

This average-to-fast-growing shrub is most popular for its easy-to-clip, attractive foliage that makes a wonderful aesthetic addition to a cottage or informal garden, and working equally as well when used for a formal display. The leaves of Privet hedge plants are semi-evergreen, which means that some of the leaves will fall in very cold winters, or if planted in strongly exposed or coastal sites, but generally, the foliage lasts very well through the winter. The flowers of Ligustrum ovalifolium, when left untrimmed, provide a pretty feature in July-August and are popular with wildlife. The berries that follow are also a welcome treat for birds.

Common uses of Ligustrum ovalifolium

This evergreen hedging grows well in all, but very wet soils, preferring a position in full sun or partial shade. When planted in these optimum conditions, Privet hedge plants form a strong, compact screen with a number of different uses, including noise reduction, windproofing and privacy screening. Privet hedges are also ideal for polluted, urban areas. Coastal sites and exposure pose no problem for Privet hedging, though in these situations some foliage may be lost in the winter.

Combine Privet hedge plants with

Privet hedging is classically grown alone, as this allows the striking foliage to take centre stage and create an impressive feature in your garden, without the need for companion plants for added impact. 

Growth rate of Ligustrum ovalifolium

Privet hedge plants have an average to fast growth rate, achieving about 40-60cm a year and the final height of this shrub can be easily maintained between 1-4m, providing a manageable, neat hedge.

Care advice for Privet hedging

We recommend trimming your Privet hedge plants at least twice a year, in May and August, to maintain form and keep your hedges tidy. However, Ligustrum ovalifolium can be trimmed more often, should you require a more formal shape. Please be aware that Privet hedging can defoliate (lose its leaves prematurely) when transplanted. Bare Roots are more likely to defoliate, but it may still occur with Root Balls and Pot Grown plants. Should this happen, rest assured that Privet often recovers well in the spring, and there is no permanent damage. Please see our Hedging Care Advice page for further information.

Suggested planting density of Privet hedge plants

For information on planting density specific to Privet hedging, please see the product table below. In the 'No. Per Metre' column, you will find our recommended plant density for each individual plant species and root type. You can find more planting density information here.

We have Cell Grown and Pot Grown Privet hedge plants available year-round, with Bare Roots and Root Ball plants available to pre-order in mid-summer, and delivered from October/November through to late April/early May.

The vast majority of our Privet hedges are grown by our expert horticultural team. However, occasionally we source Ligustrum ovalifolium plants from Europe, though when this is required, we only ever use carefully selected nurseries that meet our high-quality standards. At Best4hedging, we aim to provide quality plants at great low prices, doing everything we can to ensure that your plants reach you in the freshest condition so that you can buy Privet hedging online in full confidence that you are receiving a top rated service.

Delivery Cost

• Orders £60 & over (ex. VAT) to mainland UK are delivered FREE* (Exceptions apply - see below for Scottish Highlands etc)
• Orders under £60 (ex. VAT) to mainland UK £9.95
• At an additional cost, we can deliver to Scottish Highlands & Islands, which we classify as including AB (Aberdeen) and DD (Dundee) postcodes, as well as Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Isle Man. The exact delivery cost is order specific and will need to be quoted by one of our team, so please contact us on 01257 261 243

*For some plants that are too heavy or too tall to be packed in cardboard boxes we use pallet deliveries. In these circumstances, we require a minimum order value of £200 (ex VAT) for free delivery, or you can make a contribution towards the delivery cost. Look out for the information on product pages which explains this further where applicable and if your order is for less than £200 (ex VAT) please call or email us to agree upon a delivery contribution. This requirement only applies to those plants where it is clearly indicated on the product page

Pallet deliveries are always undertaken on an 18-tonne vehicle (similar in size to a standard refuse vehicle). If for any reason you require a smaller vehicle please contact our sales team who can arrange this for you. There will be an additional surcharge applied for small vehicle deliveries

Delivery Timescales

99% of our orders are dispatched within 3-7 working days of receipt and most the day after the order is placed. We can do “next day delivery” on many of our products but please call before placing your order to check.

We can also deliver on a specified date to suit you. Please indicate the date you would like to receive delivery in the notes section of the checkout (or place your order by phone) and we’ll do our utmost to meet that date.

Occasional hiccups can occur (such as broken down vehicles) and although we are very experienced in logistics we cannot be held liable for costs incurred or inconvenience due to late deliveries - see terms and conditions for more information.

You will receive an email or telephone call confirming the dispatch of your order 24/48 hours before it arrives with you.

Exceptions to our quick turnaround timescale

Pre-orders - if you have placed an order that includes products on pre-order, then they will be dispatched to you as soon as they are available. If your order includes pre-order bare roots or root balls you will be notified once they are being dispatched (root balls from mid to late October and bare roots from early to mid-November).

Root balls - lifting root balls involves the use of complex, heavy machinery, this lifting is carried out twice a week in the root ball season so we do still have a prompt turnaround timescale but if your order has just missed one lifting, it will be a few days before we lift again. We are always happy to confirm when we can deliver to you before you order. The benefit of this method of supplying root balls is that they are always fresh and therefore have a higher success rate than root balls that are stored out of the soil.

Weather conditions can affect dispatch - bare root and root ball plants are not lifted if the ground is too cold (it damages the roots) and the delivery of all plants can be affected if the water supply is frozen (because we water all plants before packing). Extremely hot weather can also be challenging and occasionally we hold back orders for species that are particularly vulnerable. We ask our customers to be mindful of bank holidays when couriers are not active.

We'd like to stress that although there are exceptions, the vast majority of our orders are dispatched extremely quickly and we are proud of our logistics developed over many years of delivering plants to tens of thousands of customers.

Returns

We inspect plants carefully before dispatch but accept that very occasionally things may go wrong. 
You can return your plants (within 14 days) for a refund or replacement (we’ll help with the process of returning). If your plants arrived damaged then returns are free of charge. However, we ask that you inform us as soon as possible. If you’d like to return your plants because of a change of plan or if we do not agree that the plants are significantly damaged (the loss of a few leaves in transit or a loose pot on arrival, for example, wouldn't be harmful to the plants), then we may ask you to pay the full or partial return costs if you still wanted to return them. We’re very reasonable and always aim for complete satisfaction as demonstrated by our amazing Feefo customer reviews which can be viewed here.

Should you wish to return any products that you have over-bought, no longer require or purchased in error you will incur both a return cost (different charges for pallets and Boxes) and the original cost of delivery incurred by Best4hedging. Please contact the Service team for charges and/or to organise a return. Plants will be subject to a quality control check from our Nursery upon return before any refund is authorised and processed.

Please note that in the case of damaged plants, if you have not notified us of a problem within 14 days of delivery, we consider you to have accepted the plants and Best4Hedging has no further liability for them should they fail.

You can read more about our returns policy in our terms and conditions here.

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