Hi there,

I planted a part grown privet hedge approx 2 years ago. The hedge does
well in the spring and gives a nice green leaf, but all of these were
lost last winter...

The hedge flowers in the summer, but as the season ends, the leaves are
starting to look like this:

http://tinyurl.com/ggrbl

Any advice on:

How I can keep the leaves green (and on the plant!) all year?
How I can accellerate the growth of the hedge. I 've heard about
cutting it back, but how much should I cut off each branch, how often?

Thanks in advance!!!

Simon

Simon wrote:
Hi there,

I planted a part grown privet hedge approx 2 years ago. The hedge does
well in the spring and gives a nice green leaf, but all of these were
lost last winter...

The hedge flowers in the summer, but as the season ends, the leaves are
starting to look like this:

http://tinyurl.com/ggrbl

Any advice on:

How I can keep the leaves green (and on the plant!) all year?
How I can accellerate the growth of the hedge. I 've heard about
cutting it back, but how much should I cut off each branch, how often?

Thanks in advance!!!

Simon
Privet is, in fact, not strictly an evergreen, and young plants or very
large ones can and will lose their leaves. The summer very hot period
in the UK does seem to ahve caused palnts to shed leaves early or to
have them dry up as a means of conserving what water is available, as
yours are only 2 years old, and were already part grown, then I suspect
the root system isn't yet developed enough to support the plant. Privet
can be cut as hard as you like, and will regrow from all parts of the
branches, cutting it back will cause it to bush out more and become
thicker, it also seems to accelerate the upward growth. You should be
aiming at not letting it flower, once it has flowered the plant puts
all its energy into producing fruit, and stops it's growth, trim it
back several times a year slowly letting it grow to reach its desired
height and thickness, then you will ahve a good thick hedge.

Mike in Spain wrote:
You should be
aiming at not letting it flower, once it has flowered the plant puts
all its energy into producing fruit, and stops it's growth

But the flowers smell so gorgeous!

Rhiannon

Thanks for the informative resopnse, Mike.

So I should trim an inch or so from every branch? D I do this over the
winter, too?

Thanks again!

Simon

Simon wrote:
Thanks for the informative resopnse, Mike.

So I should trim an inch or so from every branch? D I do this over the
winter, too?

Thanks again!

Simon
Probably best in early spring so it starts growth from the new
positions, It is possible to prune very ahrd and it still comes back,
very difficult to kill by pruning. I took a 5' wide hedge back to its
original trunk, and it got new shoots direct from the trunk in a couple
of weeks, finished up a nice narrow hedge.

In article .com,
"Mike in Spain" writes:
|
| Privet is, in fact, not strictly an evergreen, and young plants or very
| large ones can and will lose their leaves. ....

Well, yes and no. All privet loses its leaves in cold winters, too.
It is a facultative evergreen, in that it will grow happily either as
an evergreen or deciduously - unlike things like most conifers, which
usually die if they lose all their needles. I don't know how long the
individual leaves last, even in good conditions, but I think only about
2 years.

My experience is that it will discolour at about -5 Celcius, and lose
its leaves if it gets extended periods of below about -10.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Thanks for all of your advice so far... just one more question..

What do I do to try and make sure the leaves stay on over winter? Water
regularly, add a growbag, or a little of both?

Thanks again!

Simon

Simon wrote:
Thanks for all of your advice so far... just one more question..

What do I do to try and make sure the leaves stay on over winter? Water
regularly, add a growbag, or a little of both?

Thanks again!

Simon
Basically try and ensure well watered, and that the temp in your area
doesn't get too low, the last is something somewhat outside of your
control, so you will just have to hope for the best in that.