Hold your breath and kill the South’s worst weed.
People like their privacy.
That’s why theyput up fences.
Credit: wulingyun / Getty Images
When they can’t afford fences, theyplant hedges.
It entered the South from its native Asia as an ornamental plant in 1852.
It quickly spreads and shades low-growing plants.
Tough, toxic leaves are too difficult for mammals and insects to eat.
How To Identify Chinese Privet
You’ve seen it just about everywhere.
Privet has glossy, 1-inch oval leaves that grow opposite each other along arching branches.
Erect woody stems have grayish bark.
Its sprays of white flower clusters, blooming in late spring, are actually quite pretty.
You’ve also smelled it.
That sweet odor that seems to permeate the neighborhood?
It comes from Chinese privet blossoms.
Something else comes from those blossoms.
Many people are highly allergic.
Later on, the flowers give rise to countless small, bluish-black fruits containing seeds.
Privet is in theolive family, but its fruit is toxic to humans.
Birds, however, eat the fruits and poop out the seeds all over.
Search your yard today and likely as not, you’ll find some privet seedlings.
In the woods and on roadsides, they form solid thickets.
Hardly anything else grows.
What Are Some Alternatives To Chinese Privet?
You do not need Chinese privet in your garden.
We do not need Chinese privet in this country.
Native plants and bees will happily come back when it’s gone.
That is why we urge you to kill it wherever you find it.
Keep seedlings under control with spot treatments of a foliar herbicide.
Privet trees and hedges have a long lifespan, ranging from 20 to 40 years.
These fast-growing plants are adaptable to most situations and need regular pruning to avoid becoming invasive.
Established Chinese privet is hard to get rid of, but it can be controlled with regular pruning.
In the landscape, control the shrub with repeated cutting and mowing, though that will not eradicate it.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.Chinese Privet.
NC State Extension.Ligustrum sinense.
Nashville Tree Conservation Corps.Chinese Privet: A Relentless Invasive.
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.Laurel.
NC State Extension.Kalmia latifolia.
