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!

I should add that my garden is very exposed, so my choices reflect that . In a sheltered and warm garden ,you could grow some choice things that would curl up and die here .

Also I don't mind messy plants , things like the honeysuckles would annoy a neat gardener

Yes - the wall is east facing. Will get lots of morning sun.

Love the sound of the climbing hydrangea.

Colour wise I love purples, pinks, etc. Put in a rose bed and did white, pale pink and Dark pink. Except the dark pink turned out to be orange! That's what happens when you buy from b&q!

Ha ha, I had the opposite problem with the Orange shurb roses from lidl that turned out to be pink and white ( rosa Marjorie fair ) . I confess I dug it up in flower ( VERY dodgy ) because I couldn't stand it next to the organge hemerocallis and the yellow leaved shrub ( psycocarpus aurea ) .

Re climbers - If you have £4 to spare ( and you are not a gardening snob ) you could buy this

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1846074037/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1444235852&sr=1-19

Alan titchmarsh is very looked down upon by the cognisanti but I find his books easy to read and non technical . I have lots of second hand gardening books from Amazon , many costing the same price as a cup of coffee ( eg 1p plus postage of £2.80) . The ex library books are particularly good, as they are hardback with plastic protective covers .

have that already!

Did a bed in the front garden based on a plan from that. We weren't impressed! Some things worked and some just didn't.

We have a couple of planting plans from a landscape designer for the bed along the wall. One based on climbers and one on shrubs. I'll hunt it out and see what she suggests.