Box & leylandii

kubbnutzEjjpi54S · January 2022

I have the opposite problem to this post - https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1007661/moving-box-leylandi

I would like a fast screen to provide wind shelter but I prefer the aesthetic and characteristics of box.

So my plan is plant a mixed hedge of box and leylandii, with the idea that the leylandii will grow fast and provide wind cover, but once the box matures i would remove the leylandii and leave the box.

Unlike the last poster, I'm fine with disposing of the leylandii!

My concern is about the differing root systems mentioned in that post,will digging out the leylandii hurt the box?

Anything else I need to think about?

I am aware you can control leylandii by trimming but it feels a bit too much of a ticking time bomb for me, life is so busy anyway that it wouldn't take much to tip this over into nightmare leylandii scenario.

Fairygirl · January 2022

I very much doubt that will work. Pick one or the other.

Leylandii will outgrow the box, and the box will struggle anyway because of competition for moisture.
Not a pairing I'd ever consider. Better to put a physical windbreak in [that can be as basic or as sturdy as you want ] and plant your box. There are plenty of other evergreen hedging plants too. All sorts of problems with box in many areas of the country, so your location would also matter.
A slatted timber fence to filter the wind is better than something solid. Or you can use the material adopted for use in many exposed locations when hedges etc are initially put in.

Topbird · January 2022

I definitely wouldn't plant that combination - for all the reasons given by @Fairygirl.

I've just removed over 40m of box hedging because of years struggling to control box blight. Then (for the first time) last year it was attacked by the box moth which was just the final straw. If you're south of (say) Doncaster I wouldn't plant box - too many of us has had problems with box last year and many of us threw in the towel.

What about lonicera nitida? It forms a dense evergreen hedge and can be tightly clipped and shaped like box. Grows much faster than box and (although not as fast as) it's a much better option than leylandii IMO.

I have a lonicera nitida hedge kept at about 60cm high by 45cm wide. To keep it at that dwarf size I have to trim several times each season. If left to it's own devices it would probably grow a metre a year and I've seen it used very successfully as a much taller boundary hedge.

Trims up very smartly and looks a lot like box.

KeenOnGreen · January 2022

Buying and planting Box in the UK is throwing away your money IMO. If Blight doesn't kill it, then Box Caterpillar will decimate it. Both are gradually spreading their way around the country, with the South being more badly affected at the moment.

Common Privet is much under-used these days. It grows quickly, and it can be topiarised into some interesting shapes. Our front hedge is Privet, and we love it.

We got rid of all of our diseased Box two years ago, and would never plant Leylandii for the reasons given above.

Fairygirl · January 2022

I'd echo both of those as good alternatives - tough as old boots everywhere in the UK. I'm about to replace some of my hedging with L. nitida - I've got loads of cuttings taken early last year, and I also have a different variety in part of my boundary.
The only drawback of privet is that's it's not fully evergreen.

I'd agree with you though @KeenOnGreen - a bit of snobbery perhaps with privet? Seen as being old fashioned maybe? It's a shame. I've retrieved a bit to do some topiary with it.

Box & leylandii

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