Ligustrum Japonicum Hedging or Japanese Privet Hedge

Ligustrum Japonicum Hedging - Japanese Privet Hedge
Ligustrum Japonicum is one of the best types of privet hedges for privacy. It’s an excellent flowering hedging shrub to screen or shelter outside spaces.

A Ligustrum Japonicum Hedge is more commonly known as Japanese Privet Hedge, and as its name suggests originates from Japan and Korea. This evergreen hedging shrub has compact foliage that’s glossy and deep olive green in colour much like camellia leaves. This gives rise to its other common name: the wax-leaf privet. Foliage grows thickly in pear-shaped forms with a pointed tip. Each leaf measures up to 10 cm long and has thickly traced raised veins. These leaves provide great contrast especially in winter months as the topside is darker than the underside.

In summer large panicles of white flowers appear that are very attractive to pollinators. The flowers grow on the tips of foliage and have pretty yellow stamens. Be sure not to trim in summer before these flowers have a chance to bloom.

In the autumn months blooms mature into purple and black berries.

Height and Spread Of Ligustrum Japonicum Hedging
Ligustrum Japonicum Hedging will reach a height of 6 metres and a spread of 2-3 metres but it can be kept shorter with regular trims.

How Hardy Is Ligustrum Japonicum Hedging
A Ligustrum Japonicum Hedge is hardy enough to withstand UK weather conditions. It prefers warmth and sunlight which encourages a plentiful flower display but it will grow in colder parts of the UK down to sub-zero temperatures too. It is drought-tolerant and pest-resistant once established. This cultivar is evergreen in areas where winters are milder, but may lose part of its foliage if winters are severe or they are planted in particularly exposed locations.

How To Use Ligustrum Japonicum Hedging
Ligustrum Japonicum Hedge is the perfect choice for gardeners who want dense evergreen structure and wildlife-friendly flowers and berries. As a hedge on the ground it marks boundaries. 

How To Care For Ligustrum Japonicum Hedging
Japanese Privet Hedge requires very little care. It will grow in all soils and tolerates exposed conditions. Pruning is not required but regular trims are recommended to maintain its shape.

Once planted it’s important to water a Japanese Privet hedge regularly until it is established. A good thick layer of mulch around the base during spring locks in moisture and provides nutrients for a healthy season of growth.

Ligustrum Japonicum is also available as a Full Standard Tree and as a pleached tree. See also the variegated version -  Ligustrum Japonicum Variegatum – full standard and also pleached. 

A standard Ligustrum Japonicum tree or a Pleached Japanese Privet Hedge creates a ‘hedge-on-legs’ that easily blocks out neighbours all year round but leaves plenty of light and space around the trunk. Variegated versions of Standard Japanese Privet trees and variegated pleached Japanese Privet  bring extra light and brightness to darker spaces. These are head-turning ‘no-effort-required’ screens that provide shelter and food to wildlife 12 months of the year.