privet

[funkymoped]

silly as it might sound, i cant remember the last time i saw a decent privet..
my question is this... are privets a thing of the past ?
:-)

[{Dakota}]

There's still privets up here, but I have to venture into deepest suburbia to see them :)

[Cugetit]

Where I live, photinia (Red Robin) seems to have replaced privet.

[funkymoped]

a simple privet, the white blossom.
i just miss the stuff !!!!!

[Androcles]

I think so - even oop north we have indoor privets these days, flushing ones too!

[Robinia]

quite a few of us around here have privet hedges - great for the wild birds & they never blow down in the wind!!

[Ice.Maiden]

Lol Androcles!!!

[spudqueen]

The village I live in in Lancashire has loads of privet. I try not to cut mine until it has flowered, I just love the smell!

[heathfield]

Your question made me realise just how common it is round my way. So common I didn't even notice it.

[Wop/tpo]

I have a six foot high privet hedge on one boundary. Only
shields a blank wall of neighbour's house.

[landscaper2]

I think the thing here is funky, "......... cant remember the last time i saw a decent privet". The art of gardening has gone from so many nowadays and the thought of trimming a hedge 2 or 3 times a year is so daunting, they get left, become out of control, get ripped out and rarely replaced. HOWEVER, they could be on the way back! I have been planting them for a the past 3 or 4 years(mainly the variegated variety) including my own front garden. They remain one of the best hedges, I know that the old Photinia is popular, but for all it's showy spring growth, it hardly compares with a really tight neat privet. Bring back the privet!!
.

[Jules001]

I've got a privet hedge, although now I think about it I am pretty sure there is only one other in our road, so yes I think they must be becoming scarcer. I shall make a point of looking out for them now on my walks.

[Jenga]

Most people go for fences now. That is just one of the reasons why garden birds are disappearing. Birds live in hedges as well as trees. I think more people should grow hedges instead of putting up fences.

[Androcles]

If you do plant a hedge of any sort against a boundary, it can be a real pain for the person on the other side if they do not want to spend all summer cutting hedges, and most hedge planters won't cut both sides of their hedge. Even with a fence my next door neighbour does nothing to control his hedges that have grown above and through the fence wrecking it, and giving us a cutting job all the time just to stop our borders being overtaken.

You can understand why many people prefer fences, despite the wildlife issue.

[persianlady]

You cannot beat a nice privet hedge, especially if it is looked after. It is a doddle to trim them with an electric hedge trimmer. I enjoy keeping mine in shape.

[starone]

The privet hedges where I live are all dying from honey fungus. No good planting others because it stays in the earth and although you might think your privet is growing well, eventually it will succumb. So they have to be replaced with something else, which is usually fences or just nothing if you want to park your car somewhere off the road. There are some hedges which are resistant to honey fungus, such as laurel.

[cherrycherry]

Hi...privet hedges are often blamed for 'hay fever' as they are regarded as being a common allergen, so perhaps that is why they aren't seen as much as usual in some areas (especially urban and suburban areas where pollution doesn't help the situation).
Now that more recent research shows that privet is not a likely culprit for hay fever, then maybe more people will go back to having privet hedges as boundaries etc. I've got one in my garden as a feature rather than as a hedge and it really does encourage all the wildlife, which is great!