Replacing Leylandii Hedge

Hi all, I have a lot of Leylandii hedges that I inherited with the house, most of them are double width and are an absolute nightmare to cut. I would like to cut them down and put in some Laurel and some Red Robin. I am not very knowledgeable about gardening so would really appreciate any tips or advice that you could give.

Best Wishes

Harry

 

Scoffy, yes cut down and remove those leylandii and get some goodness in the soil before you plant anything.
Griselinia is a good choice I think. I think Red Robin is nice but can be fickle .....they seem to suddenly struggle and die so, personally, I would avoid this.
Hollies too make a great hedge. Or as specimens and for this Golden King is a fantastic plant......tough, beautiful foliage and easily trimmed. Handsworth New Silver is another with white and green foliage but lots of others to produce plenty of berries

 

I totally agree - Griselinia makes a fantastic hedging plant - green, or variegated. Mixed hedges are most interesting - to include flowers and berries with the evergreens....the birds and bees like that idea too. The Choisyas are nice, and Weigelas (my favourite is ''Carnival'')

 

Hi Scoffy, I would avoid laurel - I once spent ages removing an overgrown laurel hedge - the large leaves mean that trimming the hedge creates lots of ugly cut leaves. When you remove the Leylandii you will probably find the soil underneath is like dust and will need HUGE quantities of feeding to bring back. If you live somewhere rural, hawthorn/blackthorn/spindle mix would work well. Holly is lovely but the dropped leaves are painful to clear up if you weed without good gloves.

 

Ive got beech and laurel hedging,just given both a hard prune on one side.
Both are easy to maintain. Beech brown up in winter but keep most leaves till spring. laurel looks fresh all year round. I use petrol cutter on both.

 

I agree about the laurel hedge. Our neighbours have let theirs grow to 15ft - fortunately it's at the bottom of our garden. A brilliant barrier but it casts a lot of shade.
My preferred choice is hawthorn. Gorgeous blossom in spring and berries for the birds in the autumn. Graceful and shapely too.

 

I have griselinia in my garden as an evergreen shrub ideal for flower arranging. I've never thought of it as a hedging plant. Another evergreen shrub which would make good hedging is pittisporum but it could be expensive if you have a long stretch.

 

Another vote for a mixed hedge comprising hawthorn (50%), hazel, privet, holly, field maple, hornbeam and wild roses which will be very good for wildlife and looks good too. Now is the time to plant it and there are very good prices on bare rooted plants now.

 

We have a mixed hedge here too, beech, privet, lilac, leylandii (not so great other than being evergreen for birds and hedgehogs to hide under), philadelphus, forsythia, holly, hazel

 

I have 2 enormous Laurel bushes which were here when we moved. Pretty boring IMO and you are best not to use a hedge trimmer as you end up with lots of 1/2 cut leaves which don't look great.I certainly wouldn't choose it as hedging.
I am a fan of Beech which responds well to being pruned even if you leave it for a few years and then prune down. I already have many established hedges but if I was to plant a new 1 I would probably choose Copper Beech. I have 2 huge Copper Beech trees which a truly glorious in the spring and the variety make a great hedge which is not that commonly used. Quite agree that Griselinia makes a great hedge but is not that hardy. So unless you live in a mild area? this would not be a good choice I believe. Equally Red Robin is 1 of those rather annoying plants which can either do great or not! as @Verdun has already alluded to. Holly is lovely but pretty slow growing if you were wanting pretty quick results.
While maybe tedious, lots of ground preparation post removal of the dreaded Leylandii will pay huge dividends and after all a hedge is something which should last for many many years. Try to remove as many of the stumps as you can and improve the soil with loads and loads of rotted manure if you can get it or spent mushroom compost. Failing these then compost or peat, anything to help to replenish the goodness in the soil, the Leylandii will have removed.
As you aren't ready to plant in position yet, it might be an idea and benefit your bank balance to buy bare rooted plants of whatever you decide would suit you best and plant them up in pots of compost. They could then be getting a good root system established in their pots while you tackle the Leylandii and improve the planting area.

 

Ah! Love copper beech too silu.......a huge specimen in the now shut down Trevarno Gardens here in Cornwall. The reflection in the lake doubled the effect.
Holly is faster growing than generally supposed. And it is permanent, disease and pest and climate resistant.