Leylandii hedge coming out today. Hope I like it without!

[CiderwithBuda]

One section of the 3 m high leylandii hedge in our garden is coming down today. As well as some trees. Am worried I'll feel too exposed without the leylandii wall although I know in the long term it will be much nicer. We will gain nearly five feet along one side.

We are replacing it with a nice pale red brick wall and will be planting in front of it.

I'm sad about the trees - two big old cherries. But one is dead and the other not far off. At least I won't have to worry about them coming down in a storm.

Feels like a big step!

HOORAY!

There are not many plants whose demise I wholeheartedly celebrate, but this is one of them!

It will look strange for a bit. It always does when a major feature is removed. But your lovely wall and planting sounds so much nicer. I am sure it'll be worth it. You'll get so much more air and light, too.

And you can always plant new cherry trees, or AMELANCHIER (I claim the for being the first to mention it!!)

Amelanchier is beautiful. We planted several in our old garden ( it was huge). When the kids have grown out if the tramp I will put one in this garden.

DP and I drank champagne the day we murdered our leylandii hedge. gleefully murdered. with chainsaws and fire.

clearsomme - it is the tree that is ALWAYS mentioned by Mumsnetters whenever someone says 'I have space for just one tree, what should it be?' And with reason, as you know, because they are very beautiful in all seasons - and particularly pretty in spring. So I started a thing of a gold star for the first mention of it on threads.

Hooray for chainsaws and fire!!

I have five very nice men using large equipment in my garden! Shame the weather isn't nicer! One is def tasty!

The light is already incredible. And down in another back corner where they are taking some others out.

We can see right into neighbour's garden but obv once wall goes in that will change.

Not getting the in joke but will investigate amelanchier.

We are extending our patio too and had a landscape designer draw up a plan. She also did a planting plan - two in fact. So will be using some of that.

We are going to put in a couple of already grown trees iykwim. Everything else can take its time but we will need some height and structure.

Have googled amelanchier. I like! We might be able to put two in but def one. I think DH will like too.

Tell us more about the "large equipment".

We cut down some leylandii at the back of our garden. We've never regretted it at all.

We weren't bothered by them because our garden is north facing and they were at the very bottom, furthest point form the house. Neighbours sent us a snotty note though, and whilst the tone annoyed me, they did have a point about the height and we got them cut down to the ground.

We are more overlooked now but the garden is lighter and more open.

The thing about leylandii is they sort of grow without you realising and all of a sudden they are enormous. Very glad to see the back of ours.

Thanks Holly

Mythical - I very large chipper. Dh now wants one. He has a small one but would like bigger. Wouldn't we all I said!

Indeed. We all like a large chipper.

We took out a row of leylanddi two years ago and I wish we had done it sooner . We had so much more light and space , which makes up for the reduced privacy .

We got the stumps ground down and put some decent soil in , as the conifers make it dry and acid.

We planted 5 small trees - it would have been nice to have the budget to plant larger ones as you plan to do, cider . I chose ones that will stay quite small and have an open habit, so don't cast much shade .

The rest is shrubs and herbaceous - it will give us a little more privacy as it matures . Most of the shrubs are still quite small , although I had two bigger ones I managed to move from another part of the garden

( sorry the photo is a bit dark , but I just took it and it's raining here today )

Are your men tree surgeons? My DP is taking out someone's leylandii today

He has a huge chipper

Hahahahaha at the large chippers

M0rven - your garden looks lovely and bright, even in the rain! Those trees will have shot up in no time at all. I do like your pond.

I will never understand what would possess anyone to put a leylandii in a 'normal' garden (a country parkland is another matter!)

Thank you holly . I'm hoping it will grow up soon .

Some of it was only planted out this summer as I made some mistakes two summers ago , when I first did it .

I planted the shrubs according to their maximum height and spread, but of course they were tiny so it looked really bare . Then I filled the gaps with hundreds of daffodils . So it looked really nice in the Spring, then horrendously messy for half the summer while the bulb foliage died down .

So this summer I dug out all the bulbs ( not fun ) , put them in pots and filled the gaps with more shrubs and perennials . I've accepted I will need to thin out a bit over the next couple of years, but I have spaces to fill elsewhere . And the border looks - it's right next to the conservatory where we sit all the time so it needs to look good .

It's a million times better than the hideous leylanddi. We didn't plant them , they were here when we bought the house. We wasted money having them cut back twice, but they just shot up again.

It was expensive getting them taken down ( tree surgeon , stump grinder ) but our lovely neighbours paid half ( they asked us to take them down ) . This is why I've been careful to only plant small trees there , as I don't want to over shadow their garden .

< ignores all references to large chippers>

That looks lovely M0rven. Really lovely.

It was expensive here too. Neighbours are happy! We had a chat over the fence just now - they are thrilled with the light.

We will be putting in a couple of biggish trees but don't ant to detract from light. Want privacy though.

The leylandii was on our side but it was their boundary so we went down the legal route of getting the boundary signed over to us. We were a bit worried about going to the expense of putting in a nice wall and them or future owners being able t take it out. So legal fees as well as cost for the company to take them out. Builder popped in to have a look and build the n wall will start next week.

Pantone - south west? Company beginning with A?

I planted Amelanchier more than 15 years ago as they were recommended by Geoffrey Smith on a tv or radio prog then as the best small tree for a garden. He mentioned that more than once.

To be honest mine are less than exciting - perhaps the weather where we are, which is v wet, or perhaps the species I bought.

Cider - yours will look lovely too in a year or so . Plus you have a lovely brick wall to put climbers up . Our border is backed by the neighbours privet hedge and they cut it squint and too low !

What colour is the brick and what's the aspect ? < gets out reference book to choose climbers >

Cider - you sound like the best neighbour ever to go to all that trouble! It will be worth it for all concerned - you'll all have a much nicer living environment as a result .

Scooby - that is strange! In what way are they unexciting? Do they not flower and fruit for you??

M0rven - That's a lot of work! But good to do. I'm always moving stuff around in the garden. Sometimes it's because I've made a mistake and got something really wrong. Sometimes it's because something has just grown larger than I thought it would. Sometimes I'm dividing something that's got a bit too big and then replanting in a slightly different place. Every time it really is worth doing, though. Also, as your borders fill out a bit, the post-bulb mess will seem smaller and less significant - in a newly planted garden, it can be a bit 'loud'!!

I like that pond!

Shovetheholly - thanks! But we did it for us mainly. Neighbours hadn't asked. We gain an extra five or six feet along the side of the garden and won't lose the sun so early in the evenings. Our house was built on a big piece of land in 1904 and gradually they sold off bits of land to developers so the neighbours closest are in a small development of bungalows- the leylandii was put in long before they moved in. We have still got lots of leylandii unfortunately along the back of the garden. But it doesn't impinge on anyone so it's staying out for the moment!

M0rven - wall will be soft red brick with fence panels - it matches the wall between us and other neighbours. Would love some suggestions! I'm a bit rubbish on aspect but sun rises on the right as we look out into that part of garden and sets on left and wall in question is in the left. Is that north or south facing?

I'll try to put a couple of pics up.

We end up moving stuff are und too. I'm impatient and hate gaps so plant things too close together.

I also get frustrated that plants don't always do what you want them to!

I think your wall is east facing, but I might be wrong . That gives you lots of choice , as does soft red brick .

Are you a pastels or brights kinda girl ? Acid , neutral or alkaline ? Sandy , clay or loam ? Exposed or sheltered ? Do you like everything very tidy or more relaxed ?

I have a very dark brown / red Victorian brick wall so I find light colours , pastels and white , show up better. I have

Several clematis Montana -C wilsonii which is white and C. Marjorie and C Elizabeth which are pink . And non other non identified ones from Aldi. They are quite rampaant but I don't mind cutting them back

Rosa climbing iceberg
Rosa Penny Lane ( very pale peach )

I planted a bright pink climbing rose , R Morning Jewel , but hated it against the red brick , so I've moved it to the pergola. Still not sure if I like it . Hmm.

Climbing hydrangea

Chamenomeles Jet trail ( I think, it's white, maybe it's C Nivalis )

Lost of honeysuckles , late, early, evergreen

Various Clematis alpina - they are spring flowering , all pale pink or blue
Various clematis viticella - they are in flower right now, the kind you cut back to 12" in March
Clematis armandii - evergreen and winter flowering

The large summer flowering clematis don't do well here, I've tried a couple but they are not happy

Ivies do not seem to do well for me . Perhaps I am too inpatient .