Culture
Grow in average, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Best yellow foliage color in full sun. Tolerates wide range of soils.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Ligustrum is a genus of about 50 species of deciduous, semi-evergreen and evergreen shrubs from Europe, North Africa, the Himalayas, Southwest and East Asia, and Australia. Many work well for hedges but some have become invasive in parts of the U.S.
Genus name comes from the Latin word for privet.
'Vicaryi', commonly knows as golden privet, is a hybrid of garden origin resulting from a cross between Ligustrum ovalifolium 'Aureum' and L. vulgare. It is a multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub with a vase-shaped habit which grows somewhat rapidly to 6-12' tall. Features golden yellow leaves (to 2.5" long) and panicles (to 4" long) of aromatic, tubular-shaped, dull white flowers in late spring. Flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies. Flowers are followed by small, dark, somewhat persistent, berry-like fruits. Synonymous with L. × vicaryi.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Regular shearing impairs quality of yellow foliage color, so this shrub probably makes a better specimen than clipped hedge.
Uses
Good specimen shrub. Shrub borders, screens or informal (unclipped) hedges.