Neighbour's badly cut hedge

[MrBirling]

So my neighbours have had people round to cut their hedge and they have cut deep into it. I am now left with a complete eyesore of a hedge end. It's completely brown and I know it's not the sort of hedge that will regrow. Due to the layout of our respective houses the offending hedge end is about 3m tall. To add insult to injury the people who did this cut my plants to get at the hedge meaning they came into our garden.

What should I do? I have room for a tree or shrub. It's in full sun but quite exposed so can be windy.

We need a diagram.

Pictures please.

Yeah I wanted to say also that we definitely need pictures to access the situation.

I haven't got a diagram but here is a photo. I may have overestimated the height maybe more like 2-2.5m.

Any suggestions welcome.

Nothing you can do about the hedge, it's in their garden. I wouldn't be happy with them coming into my garden and cutting my plants though and would speak to the neighbours about that

I know they're allowed to do what they have. Not actually sure the neighbours realise what it looks like from our side though so I will speak to them so they do. I'll also make sure they don't let them come into our garden again. Not sure they realise they have.

I do want to plant a tree or large shrub that can grow in front and distract the eye from it. Any suggestions?

I know it’s brown on the inside and sadly nothing you can do about that as it’s the way they mature , but the actual cut is neat and tidy ,
I can’t see the reason for coming into your garden to cut it though as it would have been cut from the side ie 90 degrees to the hedge to get it as straight as they have done
I really don’t think it looks too bad

Depending on where you live, you could have a nice ceanothus there? I think they are borderline hardy so maybe not if you're in Scotland!

Thanks for showing us the picture OP, it does help as in my mind I imagined something very different, I actually had a similar situation in our previous house, though much taller leylandii that had been cut by the previous owner, it looked like a load of stacked up logs our side.

May I suggest a rhododendron, they grow large are hardy, evergreen and have beautiful flowers, get the most mature you can afford.

you could grow a climber up to disguise the brown twigs.

I quite like the look of it. Will birds nest in it?

I'd put a trellis up at the fence / wall koin, and let a climber scramble through the cut face.

It will regrow/go green again. I have the same in my garden and really hacked mine back a year ago and they’re green now.

For a tree for you how about an espalier red robin? I think they’re evergreen?

Short term I’d do trellis and climber as PP said; I’d go for something cheap and annual like climbing nasturtium, thunbergia, Spanish flag. Then in front of it to disguise the end almost anything you fancy but I’d be strongly considering a nice prickly holly or berberis.

on the same theme, Pyracantha. But I’d probable go for a neatly pruned standard holly.

Did they ask if they could come into your garden, it will grow back but have they cut it because it was growing over in̈to your garden. Whose fence is it. If there's room between the wall and the fence you can grow a climber.

That looks OK to me and as others have said, you can disguise it or plant up your beds to distract from it.

Are you certain they entered your property to cut it back? It looks like it could have been done from their side - although I grant you they may have stepped over to remove fallen cuttings from your garden, did this happen?

If they have damaged any of your plants you should absolutely speak to them about this and they should offer an apology and replacements /cost to repair the damage.

That us a but of a shock, and I would be seriously pissed off with my plants getting damaged, but it is their hedge and they have cut it back to the boundary.
If it was mine I would keep on top of trimming any regrowth so that I didn't get to this point again and plant something, a tall thin yew tree maybe? Or a climber on an obelisk type trellis. I wouldn't climb anything up the hedge itself because it's not mime to do that to.

I would go with the style and put an Italian cypress there (one of those ones that goes tall and skinny), they are fairly bomb proof and can cope with a lot of wind, and it won't change your bed too much either.

I've just planted one of them and I'm in Northern Scotland!

I'd be more bothered by that orange fence! What about planting a beautiful rambling rose, it will cover the fence and the tree. They tend to be hardier than shrub roses or climbers and will be fine in windy exposed full sun. I've just planted Kew Garden Rambler for it's disease resistant pink bee friendly flowers and sprays of orange hips in the Autumn.

People actually think that looks okay? It's hideous, and that type of conifer willl not regrow from bare wood. Most garden maintenance people don't give a shit about that sort of thing though, they get paid to do the job and that's all they are interested in. and of course the neighbour can't see how horrible it looks.

I would definitely say something to the neighbour about the workers coming into your garden and damaging your plants though. They might not be aware of it.

Unless that's Yew it won't green up. I would plant a fastigiate (columnar) tree, such as Amelanchier 'Obelisk'. There's lots of upright but narrow trees.