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Request for help- what to do with our ugly connifers!

ycbagnallycbagnall Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hello there, I was wondering whether anyone might be able to help with what we should do with our conifers which (I think) are half dead with several brown patches in the middle due to some over-enthusiastic cutting by our nightmare neighbour next door- photo to follow.... of the connifers that is, not the neighbour! We are loathe to get rid of the trees as their height provides good privacy from said neighbour. Do you think it would be possible for us to get some sort of climber to take and if so, does anyone have any recommendations as to what to pick? We have a dog and so I don't think we could use ivy. 
Thanks in advance for any assistance. 

Best wishes

Yvonne 

Posts

  • ycbagnallycbagnall Posts: 2

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    IMHO , they're unlikely to recover . 
    I'd remove them, assuming they belong to you,and not your ugly neighbours, and replace 
    Devon.
  • NewbiePlantAddictNewbiePlantAddict Posts: 24
    I have a clematis growing up a leylandii, first time this year and its starting to look really good - its a group 3 (not sure on name!) so just a summer plant which requires cutting back. I also have two montanas on the other side, on a wall which don't require yearly cutting back but have a limited flowering time which is the downside, and not evergreen (in Northern Scotland). 
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    There's no reason you shouldn't use ivy if you'd like to.
    I have lots of ivy (not by choice!) in my garden and have had dogs for over 20 years.

    The toxins in ivy are incredibly bitter to most animals so would be of no interest to your dog - or mine :)

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Oh dear that's a shame (Welcome to the forum by the way  :D)

    I really don't think any climber would cover that ... particularly given that the hedge will be sucking all the moisture and nutrients out of the surrounding ground, and climbers need a lot of moisture to pump along those long stems to reach the tips.  

    Any chance of biting the bullet and removing the hedge, replacing it with a fence, possibly topped by a trellis ... you could then cover the fence and trellis with clematis and roses or whatever, and keep your privacy and improve your view in one fell swoop.  You'd have to incorporate some  goodness into the soil, but that's not a huge task.

    By the way, if you do go down the above route, when removing the hedge leave long enough trunks to rock them back and forth and loosen the roots ... they're not deep rooted trees (that's why they impoverish the soil around them) and are pretty easy to remove.  Don't let a 'landscaper' just chop them off at ground level with a chain saw ... the stumps take an age to rot down and the roots will make it difficult to plant anything.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • NorthernJoeNorthernJoe Posts: 660
    Before cutting make sure to check below the surface. We chopped a conifer down to find a huge lump of trunk like wood below the surface that was a metre diameter.  The trunk was about the same diameter as the OP's trees I reckon. Probably doesn't have a big root block but if it does then it's a hard job to remove!
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Are the bare bits just where the branches are on the lawn or does it go all the way down - it's a bit difficult to make out from the photo. I'm a bit puzzled also how your neighbours managed to cut the branches on your side instead of his own? Or was it deliberate?
    What you could do is to have a look at various styles of arbour and find one with perhaps a solid back which you could erect in front of the offending piece of hedge. That would give you more privacy, something nice to sit and look at and might well be cheaper than a new fence overall.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Yes, why were neighbours let loose on your hedge?
  • Wild_VioletWild_Violet Posts: 221
    I sympathise as I have a similar difficult neighbour who consistently hacked down height off my hedge (it really wasn’t that high - not compared to her forest trees running the width of her garden anyway!) I got fed up with all the aggro and ended up removing a 10 metre long section closest to our houses and despite erecting a 2m fence, a pergola and a summerhouse, we have lost a fair bit of the privacy we enjoyed with the hedge. A 2.5m hedge was perfect for our privacy needs - that extra 50cm above the maximum fence height (planning permission needed above that) made all the difference.  I’d keep the hedge if I were you, give it a good trim and tidy in autumn but you could leave longer branches around the bald bits and they might cover them eventually. Hawthorn is rife where I live and a few bits have self seeded close to the remaining hedge which also helps cover a few bare patches. I wonder if something like pyracantha might work in a raised bed or large planters in front of the hedge.
    Good luck with it. :)
  • ChelseajaneChelseajane Posts: 17
    Clematis Montana Elizabeth is a rampant climber, spreads like mad and the flowers smell love!y. 
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