This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
overgown leylandii hedge
Trevor Griffiths
Posts: 2
I have a 7ft wide 10 ft high Leylandii hedge which I want to trim back to about 3 ft wide. I believe that if I cut this back, I will be left with a miserable looking dead hedge.
What I would like to do is to cut it back to about 3ft wide add in some topsoil and possibly plant some fragrant climbers such as Jasmine or honeysuckle to cover the exposed branches. The hedge runs north to south and is fairly exposed. The base of the trunks are about a foot below a patio on one side and a wall on the other. The soil is very well drained and very sandy, almost pure sand down about 12 inches.
I would be grateful for any thoughts or ideas.
thanks
0
Posts
I'd have to say, in my humble opinion, whatever you do it is going to look like you're trying to cover up some pretty awful looking stumps. Which of course is what you are doing. Is there no way to remove them and start again? If you only need it to be 3feet high, it'd not take long for a new hedge of some sort to get to that height. Just my thoughts. I think , if you do as you say, you might, in time, regret not removing them completely .
If you cut it back that much it will never ever recover, you can lower it but not cut the width.
If you plant in front of it to hide the bareness, the plants may be starved of water and light.
I had the same problem with my neighbours Leylandii hedge, tried cutting it back but it looked awful, so with agreement from the neighbours I cut the lot down & put a new fence up.
I can't think of anything that will disguise the ugliness of bare Leylandii branches - scented climbers will lose their leaves in the winter, and anyway, they will not cover the hedge completely - I'd remove it and erect a fence and cover it with climbers
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The climbers would never grow in those conditions, sandy to start with and the Leylandii would rob the soli of water and fertility.
Thanks for the advice, the more I think about it, whatever I do with creepers isn't going to work, so will probably live with them and just trim them back each year.
Best to get rid of it in my view . My father has a leylandii at the bottom of his garden. It actually belongs to one of two neighbours. The previous occupants had it trimmed every year but this year it has grown taller - to about 3m or more. Not much we can do. The council can remove it but it needs consent from both parties - that's difficult. It looks like a forrest. I'm going to trim it from our side as best I can with some tall ladders. - it's blocking out the light on our side, OTH, it has created a mini -greenhouse effect between our greenhouse and the hedge.
Best of luck with your trimming! - strong loppers, a wood saw (Wolf do a good one), and tall ladders, and strong gloves.
i had a similar problem and so cut all branches off back to trunk, cut trunk to the height I wanted and used them as "stakes" to attach fencing boards to. I don't know how long the 'stakes' will last but is still in good shape after 5 years. you may not get a perfectly straight hedge but it was a lot easier than digging out the roots and cementing in new stakes.
June WP good attempt at disguised advertising.
But not quite good enough Hostafan eh?
You have been sussed June WP
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...