Leylandii hedge.

Sorry it will not look any better. Yet another reason why they are such a dire choice for hedges. Perhaps suggest they plant a Montana to cover the tops?

Why not plant theClematis montana your side so that it can grow up your side of the hedge and cover the unsightly trunks, then you get all the beauty of it.

Good idea MOnica...I was being a bit dim there.

Funnily enough I was going to suggest the same solution as Hilda and M0nica!
Montana clematis is a glorious plant and Leylandii are thugs.

That is a good idea! My only hope was that the existing ivy would cover it. Is there an evergreen climber which would also do the job? There will be about 60 feet of it to cover. I suppose 'mile a minute' Russian Vine would be too rampant?

Ivy will certainly make the most of it, especially if it is already there.

I am not a plant expert but this gardening article in The Guardian looks if it might have some good ideas if you explore some of the plants in it further www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2011/jun/18/gardens-gardeningadvice

Ivy is fine, but it would take a while though.

You could plant honeysuckle as well as the clematis, and there some evergreen honeysuckle varieties.

A vigorous rose, such as Kiftsgate or Rambling Rector might be worth a though too. What length is the hedge?

Sorry, just noticed that you have already said.

M0nica, that link to the guardian had some nice suggestions, I think I'll write a couple down and try them in my garden!!

Thank you all for the suggestions. I have just looked on line for repeat-flowering rambling roses which could be good, and honeysuckle although it will have to be pinkish as I don't do yellow flowers! The difficulty will be planting them because the lawn on my side is a mass of roots from the hedge, right to the surface. I might just manage to weave in some bare rooted plants.

Some of the side branches will grow up a bit and hide bare stumps, but will need to be kept trimmed to just above stump height. Meanwhile some of the other suggestions should help- ivy covers a lot and would make it look less raw.

I know this would mean more work (and expense!) but you might be able to start the climbers off in raised beds, say about 2ft deep, with some good compost. If they got off to a good start, they might be strong enough to force their way through the roots of the dreaded Leylandii.

As there is strong growth below the cuts there is a reasonable chance that enough of this will grow upwards to cover the cut trunks - eventually.
I cut one back myself, and it looks ok again now, a couple of years on.
You can help this along on your side by judicious pruning of new growth, encouraging it to grow upwards rather than outwards.

It will look better in a year or two. That and you will soon get used to it. But it will probably go wider too.

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It could recover. We have a hedge that is chopped severely every few years, the last time about two years ago. It now has over a foot of new growth, covering the trunks completely. Our neighbour has a similar hedge that was chopped last November. Part of it is now covered by Philadelphus, the rest is still bare but has ivy starting to grow, which will cover it by the autumn.

It will cover itself over to some degree. We have a leylandii hedge, planted by the previous owner, and we have to have it cut back regularly, otherwise we'd been living in permanent darkness! I cannot say I love it but it acts as an excellent windbreak for my otherwise-exposed garden.

Lonicera bi-colour (honeysuckle) is fragrant and fast-growing, makes good coverage and is not yellow!

I have a 15 foot leylandii hedge and I was wondering about cutting it to around 7 feet,I was told it wouldn't recover so decided to just do its annual trim ..or take it away altogether.I might get it taken a few feet down if recovery is possible .
It was planted by my late FIL when he used to do all our garden work and I 'm not fond of it, MIL keeps saying but A planted it ,dont take it away,she might win yet ...lol

To be honest paddyann, if it didn’t recover from a severe cut I would think that was a positive. Unless one lives in a remote house I think leylandii are the most anti social things. (Apparently our neighbours nearly came to blows with the people at the bottom of our gardens the other day over the height and spread of their Leylandii. I am glad we missed it).

As per Alima - You should count your blessings if the severe cut ends its growing life.
I don't believe it can be effective though. We've had personal experience.

I'm with Alima, I believe leylanii are the most anti social trees anyone can plant in their garden. A new house was built in the field at the bottom of our garden, the builder planted leylandii around the large garden. We then had fast growing leylandii at the bottom of our garden. It meant all the plants in our border died. From 2pm our garden was shrouded in shade.
We eventually agreed with the neighbour that we'd pay to keep the leylandii down. It's gone from 40ft to 10 ft and we plan to bring it down further this year.

Many of the trunks are now smothered in ivy, which means the ivy grows through the fences and damages them. It also provides a rat run and breeding ground for slugs and snails, who make merry with my hosta's.

Sorry to whinge but I loathe leylandii which causes such stress in suburban gardens.

So sad everyone hates leylandii. I love mine neighbours dont complain but mine are kept to 6 foot. Id love to hear grom other leylandii lovers. Theyre so dark and moody

We wanted to remove our Leylandii hedge but our neighbour on the other side of the fence asked us not to. We were also advised by a surveyor that, as we have clay soil, to remove the hedge could cause heave and subsidence, so it stays but has a regular chop.