Recommended Hedging

Believe it or not I am a fan of Leylandii

We planted them in our last garden and it was a very lovely neat, crisp hedge but we did tend to it quite a lot and kept it in good order unlike our next door but one neighbour who planted their hedge at the same time as us which turned out to be a horror!

Would I plant another hedge of them? no I would not but then again neither would I plant a tree that would grow too large in our gardens because of the closeness to our house. Hel.xxx.

 

I can`t say I am particularly fond of leyllandii, but it is beautiful if, clipped regularly it is kept within reasonable height. Unfortunately like Kristen says most people who plant it are just looking at the short term-and don`t realise what the long term means.

I inherited one that is well over 60ft-I just can`t reach the top, but it does have a few advantages that for me outweigh the disadvantages. It can hide a multitude of eyesores, and the local birds just adore it. I find I keep an eye out for them. Yes I am slowly becoming attached to mine.

 

Absolutely agree, well clipped Leylandii can look Fab.

The only downside from my perspective is that you can't cut the face back to old wood as they don't regenerate. So if the owner doesn't cut them for a couple of years, for whatever reason, they they will be several feet thicker and nought you can do about it :(

I have seen one which has been nicely revived (on one side only) - there are some pictures in my blog

 

I also dislike them as they suck all the nutrients and water out of the ground around them.

As for its growing pace, looks like we will have to trim our side, despite not having hedge clippers (we've never needed them!), something I am loath to do, but realise I'll have to. Another reason not to plant them-why inflict additional work on your neighbour? Am I in my rights to ask our neighbour to come round and clip them? Otherwise I will hack them back myself, to bare wood if I have to!

 

Unfortunately all you can do is ask-he might say yes, you can do what you like on your side though.

 

"despite not having hedge clippers (we've never needed them!)"

Root cutters might be a more useful investment :gnthb:

 

For anyone considering using Conifers for hedging. The best ones are Thuja plicata atrovirens ( Western Red Cedar ). It`s slower growing than Leylandii, has a tighter growing habit, will regrow on brown wood and also has aromatic foliage.:gnthb:

 

Lol Aaron my sister-in-law's ex hubby got peed off looking at his neighbours mess of Leylandii hedge so hacked his side right back to the tree trunk and he was rewarded with an even worst eye sore as he was far too lazy to block the mess after his hacksaw job!

I would suggest before you do a hacket job think of ways you can improve your view afterwards because you will of course have more space and it will need filling up, maybe attaching some wires and have some climbers growing along it will fill the void and make it look so much nicer.Hel.xxx.

 

Apart from planting the blasted things, our next door neighbour has been very considerate about them. They're only 3 years old, so just starting to thicken up and he has put a wire fence on our side, so that contains them somewhat. I am also intending to plant a few climbers against the wire (well, its perfect for them) and in summer I also use it to great effect to grow my sweetpeas there. Very fortunately, we get the sun on our side of them in summer, so all he will do is block the best of the sun from HIS garden!

I think a combination of sweetpeas, virginia creeper, honeysuckle and goden hops will do a fine job of hiding them

 

More good advice, thanks... although i thought a Leylandii war starting.

Not putting one of them anywhere near my garden (nice or not).

 

Aaron-a climbing hydrangea would really love it on the netting too-and very very pretty

 

"Not putting one of them anywhere near my garden"

I think Thuja plicata atrovirens is an excellent substitute for Leylandii. Not quite as fast, but not slow either. More tolerant of cutting back to old wood. Looks very smart when clipped, but you haven't got to cut it every 5 minutes!

But that's if you actually want a solid green evergreen wall-equivalent.

(I've only ever grown the "atrovirens" cultivar, so that may be important).

 

I'd love one, but I think I'm running out of room. Forgot to mention the montana I want to plant at the base of a willow next to the wire which will surely scramble towards the fence :gnthb:

 

I hope you still have room for those two ivys Aaron, I am taking the cuttings this Saturday , besides you can always squeeze a little one in