Privet/Ligustrum lucidum - invasive?

liz 289

Hello, I am new to the forum (and to gardening really) and was hoping that someone might be able to give me some advice.  We are about to plant a hedge at the front of our house, and having given it some thought I decided upon ligustrum lucidum (glossy privet).  My mum says it is boring, but I like the foliage and don't think boring is a bad thing in a hedge!  Anyway, I thought I would check on google to find out more about it, and so discovered that it is considered an invasive pest in many areas of the world.  We live in the South East of England so I don't know whether that would hold true for here.  So my questions are:

- is ligustrum lucidum invasive in the UK?
- if I prune it regularly in the flowering season (a shame, because the flowers are quite pretty) will I be able to stop it reproducing all over the neighbourhood?
- is that a realistic aim or would I need to be pruning once a week?!

Many thanks in advance for your help.

ZeroZero1

In my childhood, 1950s, one could see  privit hedges in almost every garden, I know because I used to cut them. I never saw a privit spreading, except of course upwards. If it did it would not be a prblem just to pull it out. There are nice variegated forms. I would not worry about the flowers their nice as you say. A  similar alternative is box

Borderline

I would recommend that as a small tree rather than a hedge. I would not class that as invasive at all. Is there a reason why you have not chosen Ligustrum Ovalifolium?

Paul B3

Privet of any form (to me) makes an attractive and low-maintenance hedge ; nearly always green , very resilient to hard pruning and too seldom seen nowadays .

Wish I could say the same for those b****y Leylandii !!!

glasgowdan

It's not invasive

Mary370

Certain plants are invasive depending on the climate.  Wisteria is considered an invasive weed in parts of the US.  I have a privet hedge which is very old, I love it..........no it's not invasive.  It's slower growing than most hedges and is easy to maintain.

liz 289

Thank you all for your replies.  I am reassured.

Borderline - yes I was wondering if ligustrum lucidum would work well as a hedge.  It seems to be available as both hedging and a tree online, so I was hoping it would work out.  But ligustrum Ovalifolium looks nice too.  I might reconsider the variety now I am not so worried about it taking over the neighbourhood!

Kitty 2

I have privet hedges (older than me) in parts of my garden. Not invasive at all IMO as long as you trim them regularly.

JennyJ

My privet was over 15 feet tall and bare at the base when we moved here 30 years ago.  We cut it back hard in two stages, and it's now maintained at about 5 feet high and 18 inches or so wide at the top, maybe 2 feet wide at the base. It's not invasive at all (i.e. it doesn't spread into the adjoining borders). I assume it's common privet, Ligustrum ovalifolium.