Just cut down 10 very large Leylandii that provided a load of cover at the back of our garden. All nice neighbours but we would like to replace with something less horrible but still provides some screening. Fence is 6ft high so maybe something that can be kept around 8-10ft high and doesnt grow quite so fast.

Any ideas??

yew
laurel etna
portuguese laurel
Lonerica
Western red cedar.

Beech. Makes a lovely hedge and good for wildlife. It’ll take a while to get to 10ft though. Or a mix of native: beech, hawthorn, hazel, buckthorn, hornbeam, etc. Looks nice and natural and even better for wildlife

Bamboo?

A short fence you can chat to neighbours over?
I have never got the ‘big fence to block folk out’ thing.

Beech provides really good cover, and has all year round interest. In the winter the copper brown leaves are largely retained. Alternatively, Hornbeam is similarly nice. If you go with bamboo – be careful, its very invasive. I’m allergic to it, so am biased, but its hateful stuff!

Edit – ps – good work on getting shot of the Leylandii!

Thanks, Beech and Laurel look nice. Maybe looking to get something part grown which is quite expensive.

Leylandii is surprisingly expensive to buy in comparison, do doubt due to the fact that it grows quickly and provides cover.

I’d vote laurel, although it’s usually quite a deep hedge. Consider maintenance; 6ft high is much quicker and easier to trim than 8-10ft

Not all cypresses are Leylandii, which is a particularly vigorous hybrid. Having said that they are all pretty ugly as hedging. We have some big cypresses forming a hedge at the front of our building and I’d love to have them out and plant a real hedge of hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple etc. Even yew and holly. Nothing to stop you mixing them up.

I don’t like beech in winter – it always reminds me of those hedges surrounding electricity substations. It only keeps its leaves in winter while it remains quite low. I’m not fond of laurel either, but the new builds round here all have it – on chalk, see.

Soil type and location might be a factor.

Berberis is good as natures razor wire, should that be a factor.

Edit: whips are very cheap and start off looking pathetic but they get away and established much better than bigger plants and will catch up in a few years.

Edit: whips are very cheap and start off looking pathetic but they get away and established much better than bigger plants and will catch up in a few years.

Wot he said. Ideal time to be making a decision – whips best planted Novemberish, depending on species

Look up hedges direct – lots of choice and will give you a good idea of prices.

Japanese Knotweed.

What about something native like Hawthorn or Blackthorn, both good for wildlife.

Japanese Knotweed.

Giant Hogweed?

Privet?

Don’t use bamboo. It’s rampant and will take over if planted in the ground.

Photina? I think beech/hornbeam make lovely hedges too. Definitely not bamboo horrid messy plant, your neighbours will hate you when it comes under the fence and it drops horrid little brown bits everywhere.

A bit of rowan would be good for wildlife, birds will eat the berries.
Or willow grows pretty quickly, cheap and easy to plant cuttings.

A lot of conifers will just want to go up and don’t look great with the leaders taken out.
Beech, yew and box are more traditional, but take a bit of time and attention. Beech whips will be cheap, so could be planted densely. Planting time is after 3rd frost for us.
Personally, I’d go for fruit trees on a trainer wire.

Ultimately, if you want a neat hedge that stops at the height you want, it will take time to manage it.

As above don’t use bamboo it will pop up all over the place, I have to remove a load of it tomorrow it’s just as bad as knotweed.
Personally I would go with something like Laurel or Hornbeam, looks good all year round, easy to maintain and provides a nice screen.

I’d avoid blackthorn, it throws out suckers and spreads all over the place. I’d go with beech or hornbeam; hornbeam was grown as a crop, coppiced for the timber to use as wheel-spokes, tool handles, the weaving industry, and for burning.
It’s a fine-grained and very hard wood, good for carving and such. As you’ve already got a fence, it’s not like there’s a real need for a defensive hedge, so I’d go with that.
If you decide on native hedging, leave out the blackthorn.

Thanks for the advice, lots to think about. Cheers 🙂

As an alternative to trees, you might consider an 8ft trellis, with evergreen climbing plants. That would take up much less space, be easier to look after, and probably much cheaper than part-grown trees.

Small hi-jack if l may

If I wanted a more “contemporary” or formal look for a front garden, is a Privet hedge the way to go?

Need something about 5 foot in height to the front boundary.

ta

If I wanted a more “contemporary” or formal look for a front garden, is a Privet hedge the way to go?

Need something about 5 foot in height to the front boundary.

Pampas Grass is what you want! 😉

Good idea … but photos of Mrs Mojo required

😆

Ignore the panic over bamboo….but if you are considering it to avoid issues budget £39 for a five metre length of rhizome barrier….basically it’s 50-60 com deep 1 or 2mm thick…..put this in the ground with 5cm above the surface and overlap any 5m lengths by a metre and form a surrounded bed for the bamboo to grown within. Choose clump for Ming specimens just to be doubly sure and you will have a lovely natural busy screen…my favourite is black bamboo.
Alas when we planted our specimens about 18 years ago we didn’t use rhyzome barrier (didn’t seem to be about back then and nursery didn’t advise us about using it) which did result recently in mental neighbour issues……not that any of it had grown underneath his gravel boards that were 6″ under the surface. The bamboo will be a home to lots of lady birds etc etc etc and birds will use it as sitting points before going to the feeders. If you want to trim any height off them u you can with normal hedge trimmers or just listen to the spires rusting in the wind……

Hornbeam is nice.

Red cedar makes a lovely hedge but it seems kind of… rude. Let them grow, everyone needs a hedge 70 metres tall.

I planted a native hedge mix eight years ago.
Mixture of blackthorn beech holly rosa rugosa hawthorn beech copper beech hazel and field maple
Few gaps appeared and I added a gorse, some other roses, some crab apple and a few raspberry canes.

It can be left uncut for longer periods, I find a hedge of one species needs trimmed more often.

General interest throughout year, likes of crab apple blossom in spring, roses in summer and at the minute we have crab apples,mraspberies and rose hips.

Father in law has hedging which is over fifty years old and there are damsons in it so thinking of adding that.

Check out some ideas here
https://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/hedging/native-hedging