Ligustrum ovalifolium, Oleaceae
Arguably one of the most common plants used for hedges in gardens and parks, the East Asian Korean privet is quite similar in appearance to the European and Western Asia native L. vulgare, although it is often preferred in landscaping as more reliably evergreen, at least in countries were winters are not too cold. It grows vigorously and requires to be pruned often to keep it in shape as a hedge, but it can be trained into a free standing shrub with beautiful results, it looks particularly interesting through the summer when it is covered in panicles of white scented flowers. At the moment it is almost done blooming here in Scotland and soon will bear a great quantity of small fruits which will ripen to a shiny black in autumn. They are poisonous to humans but eaten by many birds which disperse the small dark seeds, easy to germinate, and as a result the plant is widely naturalised outside its native area.
If you want to propagate it vegetatively you can easily do so this autumn by taking hardwood cuttings, or you can wait for next spring and use the soft new growth. It roots quite easily and I tried my hand at it several times when I was a kid obsessed with bonsai trees, it is a species well suited for experimenting and learning bonsai techniques. Talking about privet bonsai, the fact this species has been used so extensively in hedging gives space to some amazing possibilities: in the video below you can see the very talented Graham Potter turning a stump salvaged from a construction site into something incredible. I know some purist bonsai artists won’t appreciate the use of power tools and the quickly achieved results, but I personally can’t wait to put my hands on a plant like that in the future and try it myself!
Here’s the link to his nursery’s website if you want to have a look.
