Removal of laurel hedge but loss of privacy

geoffky

oh dear.
I have just paid out 3k to deal with Leylandi that the last owner planted and let take over the whole house and garden... Leylandi is a menace and should come with a warning...do not plant it unless you are prepared to put in the hard work to look after them..mine all 27 of them had grown to 30ft..

laurel7172

I have a mixed laurel and leylandii hedge (also here when I moved in) and I'm not sure where the idea of leylandii being lower maintenance comes from. They both need a lot of cutting back.

However-laurel, if hacked back to bare trunk, will recover and infill. Leylandii will not.

Leylandii can be tamed a little once the main trunk is cut off. Branches still grow upwards, but nothing like before. This doesn't mean they need trimming any less frequently, unfortunately.

Nothing stops laurel.

I know that if I were starting afresh, I'd be thinking of a mixed native hedge-a lot of species are self limiting at about 3m. But as I don't actually have any experience of managing one, that might just be romantic fantasy...

Davesnave

laurel7172 wrote: »

.

I know that if I were starting afresh, I'd be thinking of a mixed native hedge-a lot of species are self limiting at about 3m. But as I don't actually have any experience of managing one, that might just be romantic fantasy...

I've just removed a native hedge (Eco-police please note it has been replaced in other forms elsewhere.) It had reached about 6m in places, and the willow, ash and various other larger species showed few signs of knowing about self limiting!

I think it could have been managed easily enough at 3m or so, but like the lax leylandii owners, the previous occupants here were 'plant & forget' types. It provided cover and food for birds, but there were no nests, the blackbirds preferring the leylandii next door and others liking the elm hedge. We managed to save two trees, an oak and a hawthorn. All the rest were too leggy and badly shaped, having grown into each other.

Davesnave

geoffky wrote: »

oh dear.
I have just paid out 3k to deal with Leylandi that the last owner planted and let take over the whole house and garden... Leylandi is a menace and should come with a warning...do not plant it unless you are prepared to put in the hard work to look after them..mine all 27 of them had grown to 30ft..

Never mind. I expect the rather obvious 'problem' lowered the value of the house significantly. You can't have it both ways you know!

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

I've just removed a native hedge (Eco-police please note it has been replaced in other forms elsewhere.) It had reached about 6m in places, and the willow, ash and various other larger species showed few signs of knowing about self limiting!

I think it could have been managed easily enough at 3m or so, but like the lax leylandii owners, the previous occupants here were 'plant & forget' types. It provided cover and food for birds, but there were no nests, the blackbirds preferring the leylandii next door and others liking the elm hedge. We managed to save two trees, an oak and a hawthorn. All the rest were too leggy and badly shaped, having grown into each other.

Agree, native hedges are not self limiting in height. Andwhen managed in height they tend to grow thick (though often can be kept tight in). In fact, the density and thickness is rather the point. Ours were well over 6 foot in most places when coming here, can't say how much, only they were a lot taller than the six foot person I often check the hegdeline with. They've, thankfully, taken a good stout cutting back to ''normal'' height, in fact, a little below, the aim being to stop them being too leggy and try and encourage some lower growth.

The good thing about them is they only need cutting in a rustic setting once a year.

gardenroute

I would cut back the laurel to a woody frame work and then let it grow back. One metre from a fence doesn't seem like too big a distance to me. On the garden side of the hedge you could keep it trimmed very close to the main stems. Laurel will always bounce back and you will have a good hedge by the end of the year, which you could remove the year after if you still want rid of it.

Your idea of replacing it with leylandii is not something I would recommend. You will need to have the laurel roots ground out, the stems disposed of, and then replaced with new plants. A nice job for a landscaper.

Leylandii don't like to be kept small. As the plant ages and becomes woody, the stems become too thick to produce leaves, so it becomes bare in places unless you let it widen slightly each year.

Either way you will still need to cut the hedge once a year so I can't see how you will be better off. A yellow hedge at the end of the garden may make the garden appear shorter than it actually is, rather than a dark colour which recedes into the distance.

stumpycat

BTCV do hedge-management courses:
http://merseyforest.org.uk/howtoguides/hedgerow.pdf

Many years ago I spent a day learning how to lay hedges - it's really brutal & great fun! Perfect if you need to take your anger out on something... :rotfl:

Strapped

Davesnave wrote: »

I've just removed a native hedge (Eco-police please note it has been replaced in other forms elsewhere.) It had reached about 6m in places, and the willow, ash and various other larger species showed few signs of knowing about self limiting!

I think it could have been managed easily enough at 3m or so, but like the lax leylandii owners, the previous occupants here were 'plant & forget' types. It provided cover and food for birds, but there were no nests, the blackbirds preferring the leylandii next door and others liking the elm hedge. We managed to save two trees, an oak and a hawthorn. All the rest were too leggy and badly shaped, having grown into each other.

Unfortunately our next door neighbours exercised a "plant a native hedge then emigrate to Oz" policy, leaving the house on the market and now both house and hedge looking in a sorry state. However before they went they had a right go at me for snipping off the ends coming across the fence so it's not like I dare "maintain it" for them.

nbr

Thanks everyone for the very useful answers and opinions. We gathered the average opinion about the leylandii and decided to just trim back the laurel. When the landscaper started trimming back, though, he started from the bottom and from the look of it we had the idea of removing all of the branches from the base up to the fence level leaving only the trunk. We then left the fully grown branches with leaves from the fence level upwards (towards the idea of pleached trees as lostinrates suggested).

We basically now have trees that give us privacy from the fence upward and give more garden space under the fence level so the garden feels more open. Good compromise I think.

Strapped

nbr wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the very useful answers and opinions. We gathered the average opinion about the leylandii and decided to just trim back the laurel. When the landscaper started trimming back, though, he started from the bottom and from the look of it we had the idea of removing all of the branches from the base up to the fence level leaving only the trunk. We then left the fully grown branches with leaves from the fence level upwards (towards the idea of pleached trees as lostinrates suggested).

We basically now have trees that give us privacy from the fence upward and give more garden space under the fence level so the garden feels more open. Good compromise I think.

When the bottom part of the laurel regrows, you should be able to "espalier" it (sounds a bit like pleaching, which I admit I hadn't heard of, but means training in one plane only) - we only have a small garden but use this to mask the fences etc and it's easy to do, you just need some wire between the trunks to train the branches along. Gives a neat, narrow but still green finish.