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Skinny Privet

mrsquaremrsquare Posts: 3
in Problem solving
Hi folks,

Sorry, slight gardening newbie question here! I recently moved house, and the new place has what I *think* is a ligustrum ovalifolium privet in the south facing garden at the front. Ideally I'd like it to act as a privacy hedge, but it's looking pretty thin at the moment, especially around the base. I gave it a bit of a trim when I first moved in to neaten it up, but the advice seems to be to cut it back quite aggressively if I want to thicken it up.

Just wanted to check with the GW hivemind before I do anything drastic, is the correct approach? If so, how much could I get away with cutting off (its maybe about 5.5ft just now)? And is this worth doing right now (I'm in Scotland, if that matters) or should I save it until a later time?



Posts

  • Mrs-B3-Southampton,-HantsMrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants Posts: 732
    Next door was sold and the new owners tidied the garden by cutting everything down. This included the huge great privet hedge. they rented out the property to a pair of non-gardeners. We now have another huge great privet hedge!

    Go for it.
    Southampton 
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    I would cut that back by half - as @Mrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants says, privet grows back quickly and a hard cut at this stage will really benefit the hedge in the long term.  As it grows back, trim it so that the hedge is narrower at the top than at the bottom, so it looks like an A shape in profile.  This will allow the bottom of the hedge to get enough light and it will thicken-up nicely.  If a hedge is allowed to grow wider at the top than at the bottom (which it will naturally do if left untrimmed), then the bottom wll never fill out and you'll be left with a hedge on stilts. :)
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    There are so many rectangular Privet hedges, and you can have so much fun with them, so why not try something quirky for your final hedge shape.  They really do grow very quickly, so you can always let whatever you do grow out, and try something else, if you don't like what you did.  

    We are brutal with ours, and they always bounce back.  


  • Poly-anthusPoly-anthus Posts: 155

    Love it KeenO Green
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