What to put beneath Cypress Trees?

[Thorinfling]

Morning all - Looking for some suggestions really. Next door have some enormous Cypress trees on their border which overreach over our driveway. I don't mind too much in general but they drop brown leaves/bits all over the place.

The driveway is brickwork and the side under the neighbour's trees has a low wall and a 12-18 inch border with a small edging stone. Inside this border is a covered in loose large decorative pebbles. It was there when we moved in. The problem is trying to clean off all the brown shit, the stones are loose so move/fall off if I brush them and the leaf blower makes a god awful mess and blows stuff everywhere and all over the road.

I was thinking maybe I could put cement in the border and then set the stones into the cement? Or something else? Just so I can give it a good brush and clean off all the stuff without dislodging all the pebbles.

A friend suggested just putting cement and leaving it but that would be a bit ugly I think. Or some sort of concrete border tiles? Anyone found an ingenious solution to this sort of problem - something easy to keep clean when there is constant drop from above?

Any thoughts appreciated!

I would remove the stone and replace it with bark chippings, that way the fallen bits will just blend in. You can just keep it topped up and sweep the driveway. Are they actually Cupressus though or Leylandii? If they are Leylandii, I would be asking neighbour to remove or top them as they are unsuited to a shared boundary if left untrimmed.

That's not a bad idea actually. In terms of the trees themselves, I'm not actually sure what the difference is? They are taller than our house though

What about replacing the stones with soil and planting some sort of ground cover plant, it would have to do well in shade I imagine. Ferns would be very happy there, vinca, lamium…

Yeah, I did think about that but these trees drop SO much stuff. Anything planted would just get constantly covered in crap.

I'm trying to think of alternatives that are brushable and easy to clean without being really unsightly.

Hmm I’m wondering about some sort of fairly tough low hedge type plant such as berberis or euonymus, the bits would still drop of course, but some would drop between the plants and rot into soil, and I feel like the bits that drop onto the plants would be less visible than sitting on stones?

Bark chippings is not a bad idea either, or how about gravel that’s the same colour as the stuff that drops!