Leylandi hedge (trees) next door being cut back!

I do !!! When our neighbours moved 2 years ago they cut theirs down to the ground. Maybe a little too radical because it does mean that we hear a little more car noise.

Always used to amaze me as they had these horrid monsters in their garden and we have one huge oak tree but they hated ours because the leaves fall off

If Leylandi are kept trimmed, they can be kept in control, but once they are let go, any attempt to cut them back results in an ugly hedge that will never recover. We had a huge hedge at the bottom of our garden that had 20 feet taken off the top, it never recovered. However, I'm not sure that the house that has now been built a few feet from our boundary looks any better.

Next-door who runs his own gardening and tree surgery business took out the 15' high laylandi hedge that the previous owners had planted along the length of their border between us and them, the week he moved in. We were rather pleased
I hate the darn things

My DD has a running battle with a Leylandii hedge, which in the past has included DH taking clippers to it. Luckily the current neighbours are a bit more reasonable.

The things should be outlawed.

Horrible things, there should be a law against planting them in suburban gardens.

I had a leylandii 'hedge' which had got out of control so I chopped the tops off leaving trunks of about 7'. All remaining branches were lopped off and I then attached pig wire to the trunks and grow climbing plants up. A very cheap solution ! The leylandii of course doesn't re-grow and it took 15-20 years before most of the trunks/roots rotted away at which point I got someone in to replace the trunks with stakes.

We had a very tall Leylandii hedge at the bottom of our very large garden in the UK, with a paddock beyond. Thank goodness for that as the paddock was sold and houses built on it. We took about 2m50 (8') off the top 3 times- ugly stumps for a few months then lovely soft plumes again. The builders actually built on the paddock in relation to the hedge ;)

My FiL's next door neighbour has a Leylandii hedge between the back gardens. He agreed to keep it at 7 feet or less, but it's now reached 16 feet.
Considering that the properties are bungalows, this means it takes almost all the light from the bedrooms and back garden.
FiL is in his mid eighties and doesn't want any trouble, so is putting up with it.
He also puts up with the twenty feet tall flagpole belonging to the same neighbour, which in windy weather is unbelievably noisy.
When my DH inherits the bungalow, we're intending to move into it....I fear the neighbour will be in for a shock, there's no way I would be that tolerant of his hedge and flagpole!

I hate them as well. The garden we have just left had one between us and the neighbours, about 8 ft tall. They paid for it to be professionally cut each year. One year we paid because we wanted it reduced from 10 ft to 8 ft!
The only good thing was the variety of birds nesting in it.

The new garden has them, as a straggly hedge, along one side and the back, fortunately ours. I will be removing them gradually and replacing with much more interesting bushes/ small trees.

x

I think there are laws about how high they can be, but who wants to go down the route of a neighbour dispute.

If neighbours can't see the problem they cause then they're not likely to be willing to cut them!

x

Am I reading this right - have you sold and bought- done and dusted? What wonderful news.

Our leylandii hedge was indeed full of birdlife- including a pair of tawny owls - we just loved to hear them tweet tohoo at night.... One side hedge was yew, and the other on West side a fabulous mix of mixed short trees, including viburnum, forsythia, lillac, flowering cherries, etc, etc, - and at the front 2 bramley apple trees- which have now given the name to the childrens' nursery now there.

Our bungalow in Westcliff had 5 leylandii along the back garden when we bought it.
We've had them lopped twice in the last 10 years - cost over £1000 each time!
Is it possible to cut them right down and kill the roots?

We had the Leylandi at the end of our garden cut right back just leaving the stumps which are about 6 feet high. That was four and a half years ago. We use the stumps to anchor the fence panels we put in place of the trees. One of the stumps is now very wobbly and would probably lift if yanked so the others may not be long going the same way. (will have to put posts in then). There has been no new growth on the stumps at all.

Yes, there are laws and a complicated formula for wirking out how much light it takes from a neighbour's garden J52 but I take your point about not falling out with neighbours.

Our neighbour has let her fence fall into disrepair so we've just replaced the whole thing at our expense rather than cause a dispute as our animals kept escaping into her garden.

Hate them and wish it was illegal to have them higher than say ten feet. The builder who builtb at the bottom if our garden planted leylandi around his plot. It was the source of discussion every spring, he was happy to let it grow and grow. He sold, the current owner agreed to take it down by fifteen feet if I paid half and promised to keep it at that height. He didn't and I've gradually caved in, guess who calls the tree chap and pays the bill now.....

There are already laws relating to predominately evergreen hedges. The maximum legal height is 2m. This law came about because of leylandi and the problems they caused. How enforceable that law is, is debatable.

I raised this with the council a few years ago pompa. Their view ' we prefer neighbours to resolve the issue themselves' - excellent, out came by cheque book

We had a leylandii hedge at the bottom of our garden which DH kept trimmed. A couple of years ago a few blotches appeared which turned out to be an aphid which introduced a virus. Local tree surgeon came, inspected it and it was dead inside so out it came.
Behind it was other neighbour's very old hawthorn hedge. We've now planted beech hedging-it's coming on well so everyone's happy.
A neighbour at the bottom planted a laurel hedge which was already chest height and has created a lovely hedge straightaway (to keep their little boy in!).

Depends on how long ago it became law -- The Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003)

But, I doubt councils would get involved as it would be a dispute between the two parties.

He he he he.
They are the devils work! We quite drastically shaved our side of the neighbours leylandii last year . I looks a bit brutal but the existing clematis montana is now taking itself off up the remains of the trees.
I had a text today from my daughter saying "I think I might have over done it" and she sent a photo of what she had done. Her small back garden is was full of the wretched things.
As both little boys are now at nursery and she was on a day off she has had the opportunity to attack the trees with her saw.

We will take our garden bags with us when we go on Monday she may appreciate us making a trip to her recycling center.

Tiggypiro I will do that and suggest it to my daughter.
Tricia
If you cut all the foliage off they will die.There is a product available but PM me if you want to know more.

You can top Leylandii drastically- but anything cut from lower down will not re-grow.

Interesting about light and rights- but what about when you have an establised hedge which pre-exists new houses where previously there were none? How unfair it is to expect an established hedge, planted when no houses were in the vicinity- to be cut- forcing people with the established garden to have the new houses overlooking them directly?

It's fair to expect people to keep hedges low enough to avoid others losing light. That will give enough privacy and if it matters so much not to be overlooked, move house.

We have the most beautiful Beech hedge, that provides perfect privacy in the summer and glorious colour in the autumn. Its about 7ft high and we keep it neat both on our side and on our neighbours so its no problem to them. So there are alternatives to the horrid leylandi.

Just a word in defence of Leylandi - they do provide warm and snug roosting for birds.

Re overlooking people's gardens. Firstly houses don't overlook gardens if we're talking privacy - it's people in the houses seeing into our gardens that we are really speaking about. A 6' hedge is quite high enough to keep a sense of privacy.

Secondly, people in neighbouring houses looking into our gardens from an upstairs window - well unless houses are built very far apart there's not much can be done about that.