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windy64

By Windy64

Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom Gb

Plant I.D please.....ive been searching and ive come up with 'Ligustrum' am i right or wrong, flowers have gone now and the berries are forming. thanks ;)



Sdc10503

Answers

 

It looks like a kind of privet, to me. Maybe "California" Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium, actually native to Japan)?

16 Aug, 2011

 

Ligustrum ovalifolium is the usual form of Privet used for garden hedges in the UK. This looks quite like it to me, but it's hard to tell the scale. The flower clusters are about 1" - 2" long normally on L. ovalifolium but it's impossible to tell how big the flowers in the photo are.
Also, the leaves are a bit curly and L. ovalifolium leaves lie flat in my experience.

16 Aug, 2011

 

the berries usually start of green then turn bluey /black but it a variety of privet

16 Aug, 2011

 

Thanks everybody for the confirmation my other concern is when is the best time to prune ? taking into consideration the berries which the birds love during the winter and the fact it(they) lose most of their leaves before next year i thought jan/feb time would be best, what do you think ? ,at a rough guess i would say i've got around 20-30 plants side by side, when i first moved here they were only waist height but ive let them grow over the last few years and now their reaching 7ft+ ive trimmed the sides a little in recent years in early spring but left the tops to grow- the reason being is theres not much protection from the wind, so the next time i prune i want to be more all over rather than short back&sides, so im thinking late feb. ;) thanks again.x

16 Aug, 2011

 

I find privet hedges are pretty evergreen - that's one of the reasons they're so popular. And I've cut them back at all sorts of times. I reckon trim it whenever you like, or when it suits you. They're very forgiving - another reason for popularity.

16 Aug, 2011

 

Really doesn't seem to matter. They only lose their leaves in a very harsh winter. They seem to regrow however hard you cut them back, though if you cut them right back to bare wood you won't get much new growth until next year.(Unless you do it right away and lose the berries)

16 Aug, 2011

 

It could be Ligustrum Sinense, Windy, which my book says is also used for hedging, and bears round, purple/black berries after the flowers. I'm glad you're thinking about feeding the birds, especially if we have another bad winter like the last one! heaven forbid!! It says you cut back twice in summer, so you can do it now. Hope we've all helped. Annie

16 Aug, 2011

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