Ligustrum Ovalifolium Aureum Standard Golden Privet

Ligustrum Ovalifolium Aureum Standard Shaped Trees
Ligustrum Ovalifolium Aureum is best known as Golden Privet. It’s a well-loved hedging shrub but it also makes a colourful and versatile tree.

Golden Privet is native to the Far East. It’s a variegated cultivar with small oval leaves that are green with bright yellow margins. Golden Privet is semi-evergreen which means it will keep its leaves unless the winter is particularly harsh. In the mid to south of the UK it generally holds foliage year-round. In spring, pretty white flowers appear which are scented and attractive to insects. Golden Privet holds the RHS Plants for Pollinator title as well as the AGM. In autumn its small flowers mature in black fruits which are taken by birds.

While it’s best perhaps known as a hedging shrub, Golden Privet takes well to clipping and makes the most beautiful topiary standard trees. It’s a good alternative to standard holly. These Standard Golden Privet trees have been shaped to feature one main straight, clear stem (or trunk) of between 80 cm and 2 M metres tall, depending on the type of standard. A shapely crown of foliage sits on top. Read more about Standard Tree Shapes here. 

How Hardy is Ligustrum Ovalifolium Aureum Standard
Standard Golden Privet is just as hardy Golden Privet hedging. It copes well with the UK climate tolerating cold wet winters and drought once established. It’s rarely bothered by pests or disease and copes with exposed sites and pollution in urban areas. 

How To Use Ligustrum Ovalifolium Aureum Standard
Standard Golden Privet in a mixed border not only brings year-round colour but height to flat spaces. It can be successfully grown in the soil or in containers to brighten a dull patio or frame a doorway.  Perfect in wildlife-friendly gardens, urban or coastal areas this is a versatile and hardy standard shaped tree. 

How To Care For Ligustrum Ovalifolium Aureum Standard
Standard Golden Privet enjoys full sun to partial shade and will glow brighter with plenty of sunshine. It’ll grow in moist fertile soil of any pH.
To maintain the shape of standard golden privet it needs a twice-yearly trim. 
Water well until established and ensure container plants don’t dry out. A thick layer of mulch around the roots traps moisture and provides nutrients for the coming year.