Florida Privet is a Florida native that makes an excellent hedge. It can be pruned to be kept low or grown higher to make a dense privacy hedge. This plant is extremely drought and salt tolerant and is easy to grow overall. Florida Privet gets small fragrant white flowers and tiny berries that birds love.
How to care for Florida Privet
Light. Grows in full sun or part sun.
Water. Water regularly until it is established. After that it is highly drought tolerant and needs no extra water.
Soil and feeding. It grows in moist, well-drained sandy or limestone soil and handles South Florida's alkaline soil. A layer of organic matter on top helps.
Size. Usually 4–15 ft tall and often about as wide. It grows moderately fast to fast.
Pruning. Use it as a hedge or screen, kept low or allowed to grow tall for privacy.
Problems to watch. It reseeds readily in the garden; pull seedlings where you do not want them.
Good to know. A Florida native. It tolerates salty wind and some salt spray, but not flooding by salt water. Bees pollinate the flowers, and the fruit ripens before most others, feeding songbirds early in the year.
Sources: Natives for Your Neighborhood (Institute for Regional Conservation): Forestiera segregata · Florida Native Plant Society Plant Database: Forestiera segregata
