Trimming Into Brown (Leyllandii)?

Spender£

I love trimming my Leyllandii each spring but a few years ago i made the mistake of going into the brown and it didn't recover, is it true that once you do that their really is no way back similar to when a man goes bald.

Loanranger21

Yes, once it has gone brown, died off,  it will never green up again.

Justagardener

Sadly true. You could comb some green parts over and wire them In. It will take a few years to cover though.
25 years ago I cut a 20ft buxus into a  snail shaped  topiary (next to some hostas for irony).  6 years later  someone came along and cut off the antennae by mistake. It's only just recovered 19 years later! 

Davesnave

Yes, unless the 'leylandii' turns out to be one of the conifers that can recover from limited cutting into old wood. Western red cedar perhaps....I'm not 100% sure which ones.

Still, no great loss!