To feel sad about my garden?

[Hedgeless]

NC in case any of my neighbours are on here.

I had a lovely secluded garden... but the neighbours were complaining that our hedges were too high. So thought I'd better be a good neighbour and get them cut. OMG my garden looks like its been scalped. You can see into it nearly everywhere now. I KNOW it will grow back and I KNOW it is lovely for neighbours to have more light.

I just feel like my lovely safe private sanctuary has been wrecked. I pay a whacking mortgage and want to enjoy my home, and it cost me £££ and lots of time and hassle to have this done and I HATE IT!

Must sound a bit crazy and OTT. Does anyone else get upset about this sort of thing? I have to say my neighbours are really lovely friends and I know it was my choice to get it done. I just feel like pouring Magi-Gro all over my garden now...

I think it's good that you cut them down, having suffered with neighbours awful leylandi trees for seven years it was a joyful moment when new owners cut them down. We used to get no light to our kitchen and it was depressing.

So, were the hedges too high? Or were your neighbours just complaining?

Let it all grow again and, in the meantime, check the regs about hedge height

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=408

www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes/high-hedges-trees-and-boundaries

Keep them shorter near

Keep them shorter near neighbours house, let them grow a bit wilder near end of garden?

I've just had mine cut right back (by half), they were mad. At the end of the garden though and not blocking anyone's light/view, we'd just neglected the pruning for a few years. In fact, that's not quite true, we'd pruned but just not hard enough.

The garden does look a bit bald (I've also had some ginormous buddleia taken right back) but it's very temporary and they'll soon plump back up.

You will get used to it though - I had 3 large Hawthorn trees at the end of my garden and decided to have 1 over the garage removed completely and two of them chopped right down so they are tiny, more like the hedges they are supposed to have been.

It was shocking at first to see my neighbours houses so close but I got used to the light and I love it now.. no more mess (berries & leaves) from the trees either.

Unlike your neighbours mine were annoyed that I'd taken them down because they said it took away their privacy but they soon calmed down about it.

Its hard to explain but parts were a bit too high, other parts weren't. We have a mix of neighbours and the most moany were ones who just wanted it to look neater from their driveway.

I just used to go in the garden after work and breathe that sigh of 'ahh... I'm home' and now its like 'argh, I'm on display!'.

If it's any consolation, a drastic hedge cut will result in a much thicker bushier screen once it does grow back. If you keep it trimmed you will also get more privacy, mad as it may sound.

Thinking in the longer term, now might be the time to start to plant a series of varying evergreen shrubs that will grow to the heights you need in the different parts of your garden. They'll need less maintenance than a hedge, you can have flowering shrubs and you might be less likely to fall foul of the high hedges thing.

I fully understand your angst btw. Did the people you employed cut the hedge lower than you'd specified.

I completely understand how awful it is to suddenly be exposed to your neighbours.however, as others have said, you will probably have done your hedges a favour giving them a good haircut and they will come back healthier and thicker. How about planting a couple of ornamental trees? Nothing that will get too big, perhaps flowering cherry?

Thanks all. No they followed my instructions, I know I have done the right thing for everyone else, I just don't like it myself, and if I'm honest it grates that it is me that paid for it, gave up my time etc. We completely removed another hedge a couple of years back and I'm not really used to that either! Will keep muttering 'it will grow back bushier'.

I think you're right, I do need to plan some new plants in strategic areas. Its just all so bloody expensive and in my heart it feels pointless when I loved it as it was [stamps foot]. Better to get on with neighbours though than to have private garden.

Hey ho. One day I will win the lottery and buy a rambling country estate miles from anyone. And the next lot of time and money I spend on the house will be for something that I choose myself!!

We have a neighbour at the back of us who used to frequently say to us that he wished we would chop down one of our trees as it blocked his evening sun. We said, of course we will - when you knock down your house which blocks out our morning sun (and his next door neighbours house which blocks the sun for a large part of the day). We didn't chop the tree and fortunately it has now become a joke between us. Our tree was there before his house was built incidentally.

You will get used to it and neighbours will be much happier. We moved into this house a year ago and had a neighbours tree overhanging half the width of our garden! I spoke to them just to let them know we were going to cut it back a bit on our side. They were disappointed as the liked the privacy it gained them, but I said we were losing half our garden to it so needed to trim it back. After a chat, we agreed to actually have a couple of the trees cut down completely -which my uncle did free of charge (he is a tree surgeon so did a professional job). We've now put up a higher fence and both gardens look lovely.

I know how you feel OP, we had a massive Christmas tree taken down in November which made the neighbours happy but on hot days I really miss the shade ( pale red headed family! ). However, I have been able to get some new plants and a bit more colour in the garden so maybe getting some new plants would cheer you up? And as PP have said, your hedges will grow back even better.

You will get used to it, and another year's growth it will look a lot better!

I love how understanding everyone here is, thank you for all the replies. It really has made me feel better knowing I'm not alone (in my very trivial problem I know).

If you pop down to Aldi or Lidl from time to time, they sell some lovely little trees for a couple of quid each. You could treat your garden to some!