lleylandi

[maggie01]

When we moved in our bungalow there was a lleylandi hedge at the bottom of the garden hiding the houses behind. It was kept well clipped and looked ok. This year there is a lot of dye back and it looks brown and a bit grim. problem is if we take them down we will be overlooked (one of the reasons we bought the place was the lleylandi hedge hiding houses). Anyone have any suggestions. Thanks

[dmsjps]

Don't want to sound like I'm paranoid, but if the hedge was OK before you moved in, could it be that one of the people in the houses behind the hedge wanted a more open view? Leylandi are pretty hard to kill once established. Also, if it's a hedge I think there are rules regarding the maximum height nowadays (6'3" springs to mind, but I could be wrong).

[maggie01]

no the hedge does not take away any of the neighbours light as they are higher up than us in a house. We had a gardener cut them last year and he cut into the wood and they started to die back after that. We have not had any complaints from the neighbours. I think the height restriction came about in june but only if the neighbours object which they haven't as yet.

[dmsjps]

Good to hear you're all kosher, so it sounds like the gardener was a bit heavy-handed maybe? Anyway, at least you're on good terms with the neighbours, so that's a good thing! Hope you find out the cause of the problem. If it's anything drastic, at least leylandi are cheap to replace.

 

Hope you get some more useful suggestions than mine!

[Didwot]

About the only good thing one can say about leylandii is that they have no dormant buds. With most other trees and shrubs you can cut and prune quite savagely, and they will sprout new growth, but becuase leylandii have no dormant buds they cannot sprout from the brown wood, but only grow from the green. If your gardner was too enthusiasitc he may have left too little green to enable the plant to survive.
Yew makes a great hedge, nice and slow growing, can be trimmed beautifully, evergreen, indigineous. Look on this as an opportunity, not a loss.

[maggie01]

I would not chose to plant these as I have a bad allergy to them and although I don't have a problem with my neighbours, I just don't fancy living in a goldfish bowl until a new hedge grows. But thanks I will make a note of the suggestions for a new hedge as I am sure this is what I will have to do eventually.