Mini Green Meatballs

It’s pretty rare for a woody plant to make our on-line catalog, so if you see one, you should assume it’s something special. Such is the case with Ligustrum ‘Little Moon’. We picked this up from Alabama plantsman Bobby Green on a trip back in 2011, and planted it immediately upon our return. 

After seeing so many people plant ligustrum as foundation plants under a low window without realizing that they mature as 40′ tall trees, the idea of a miniature ligustrum that never needs pruning was quite intriguing. After 7 years in our garden, our original plant is only 2′ tall x 30″ wide…in other words, a no-prune green meatball.  Can you imagine all the energy that would be saved countrywide if people would stop butchering shrubs and instead focus on planting the right plant in the right place.  We we see people constantly shearing shrubs (topiary artists excluded), the first question that comes to mind is “Don’t they know what shovels are for?”. 

1 thought on “Mini Green Meatballs”

  1. This makes me laugh because I well remember an article Tony wrote for a garden magazine entitled ‘Green Meatballs’ Every time I travel now and see all those over-pruned round shrubs in front of houses now I am going ‘green meatball, green meatball’ in my head.

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