Is Leylandii really that awful?

[WildFlowerBees]

We live on the corner with no immediate neighbours either side but behind us we have town houses that overlook our garden. We’ve planted trees etc but the neighbour immediately behind us has a football child and it’s forever coming over. It breaks our bushes, snapped my rose tree etc etc.

Im thinking of creating more of a privacy feel with different hedging one that’s really bushy that a football won’t get through. I know Leylandii can be a pain but I can’t think of anything else that grows as quick.

it won’t block their sun and we’ll plant infront of the fence so it doesn’t impinge too much as grows.

is Leylanii really awful?

i like mine. You need to be confident with going up a step ladder and cutting it at least yearly, ideally twice. Or paying someone to do it.

Yes, it’s great full stuff and shouldn’t be allowed in normal gardens. Our neighbours planted it between them and it’s caused hedge wars and looms over out garden too. It’s about 2.5 metres wide…so measure that out in your garden, and sucks all the moisture out of the ground around it. They took the tops off at great expense and it doesn’t grow back and looks really ugly.

my in laws planted grisellinia 4 years ago and now it’s a great hedge.

how old is the football kid? Whatever you plant is likely to grow up more slowly than him/her.

It is if you don't look after it - which many people don't.

I had neighbours from hell who didn't and the trees blocked out all the sunlight from the bottom of my garden as a result of the number of them, height and thickness.

yes, they caused subsidence in my house and the neighbours were always complaining about them. A lot of upkeep as well as they grow so fast. I would NEVER have them again. I had all mine removed.

In a suburban space, yes. It's not just the height, it's the girth - they take up a lot of space. If you have a particularly large garden and are prepared to maintain them, then maybe OK.

How about Portuguese laurel? Grows quickly, sturdy, attractive, needs an annual trim?

My in-laws have recently had to pull out of a house purchase after the house they wanted was found to have subsidence caused by the leylandii hedge which was about 50 feet away from the property.

I would no more plant this than bamboo.

It’s fine if you have a massive amount of space and live next to a motorway or something. My parents planted it all around their modern house garden and it is ridiculous. The garden feels like a cave. The fence behind is rotting and inaccessible. Needs constant chopping down and then looks awful. That’s after 25 years.

You can’t cut it back hard if it gets too big so even once it has reached the size you want, it will get taller and wider each year. Yew can be cut back hard if needed.

Dh keeps our side of it very trimmed back and keeps the height at about 8-9ft. Our old next door neighbour used to maintain his side of it and the whole thing was about 2ft wide. New neighbour never cuts it his side and it’s got loads wider into their garden. We did think about having the full length removed after half of it burnt down and was replaced with a fence but decided against it. New neighbours who don’t cut their side said they also like it due to privacy so it obviously doesn’t bother them.

Thank you, no Leylandii! Will look at pleached Laurel

Buy the tallest Portuguese laurel (or whatever) you can afford for instant gratification. (I bought a 5ft beech hedge - not cheap but fabulous 😀)

Can recommend Hedges Direct (where I bought my beech from).

I’m currently looking at pleached laurel. I’d be nervous about football damage as not cheap.

Maybe a better option is to put some netting up or ask your neighbours too...

It seems an expensive solution to a short term problem.

What about beech hedging? We have it and it is very full. It has grown fairly quickly and is easy to trim.

My neighbour has a leylandii hedge. It grows well over the boundary but when we have trimmed it back, it's looked awful. It also sucks all the moisture out of the soil, so we have a barren patch of ground beside it.
Our own hedge (other side) is native trees and shrubs, densely planted. That keeps a lot out, but did take a few years to establish.
Prior to the hedge, we had a tall wooden fence. That kept the majority of footballs, Frisbees and other toys out too.

Cant stand it.

Leylandii is evil, as is bamboo. I have a hatred of laurels too - but mainly because they grow a mile when I turn my back on them and also get too deep (I inherited old ones). If I had my choice I'd go with a tall pleached beech hedge. Lovely colour in spring, great habitat and although they are decidious they hold onto their leaves over winter.

Agree with the evils of Leylandi!!

We have laurel - no idea what variety - it grows quickly. Great for creating a hedge, but it needs cutting about 3 times a year, and really hacking back every 5 years or so.

Of you want a deterrent, I'd be going for something nice and spiky. Some holly if you want evergreen, or perhaps hawthorn if not.

I agree you'd be better with netting - by the time anything is big enough, the kid will probably have moved out. If you get anything mature, it'll cost a fortune and you'll be stressing about the damage.

It needs a lot of work. It ruins the soil around it by sending out chemicals to weaken plants in its vicinity. Its roots travel very far and use up a lot of water - fine if you have a boggy garden and don't want to grow anything else. There's no question of keeping much alive for long that's planted near it. Leave it for one season untrimmed and it's trying to shoot upwards because it wants to be a huge tree. When it is a huge tree, it's prone to wind damage. When you want to get rid of it, the roots will rip up your garden. You can cut it off at the base and grind the stump down but those roots will still be in your lawn.

It's far, far too big for most gardens unless you have a hedge-trimming habit that you enjoy indulging. I absolutely hate our hedge. It's far too high-maintenance plus it needs to be done on both sides, and our neighbours don't really do it often enough to keep it healthy. Massive PITA.

I have them and I love them. They don't have to be a problem if you trim and shape them regularly, so they don't get out of control. But, if I were you, I'd go for cherry laurel, which I think is much nicer!

Yes horrendous

Common cherry laurel grows extremely quickly and 5-6’ trees are surprisingly not very expensive. Definitely much cheaper than pleached laurel.

Cherry laurel can be hacked back to the ground if need be so it’s much easier to shape than Lleylandi.

I will not be having netting, it’s ugly. Really like the Beech but I’d like an evergreen. Also really like the idea of holly.