Leylandi hedge (trees) next door being cut back!

Never burst into flames yet though.

They can be nice if kept trimmed, we have ( inherited from last owner of house) a hedge about 16 feet long and about 8 feet high on one side of the boundary.DH clips it twice a year, and does the other side for our very elderly neighbours.There are always blackbirds roosting and nesting in it.

Oh, I didn't know have flammable leylandi hedges can be - thanks loupylou.

Good grief......nothing to do with overweight Koalas then? ?? perhaps that's another reason why gardeners should pollard or cut them right back annually.
I have to say that ever since the Leylandii inferno I've seriously disliked any of the fir tree family - if it's really hot weather the vapour is a real fire risk.

Widow maker
Another warning re Eucalyptus -- I quote :-

"Eucalypts have a habit of dropping entire branches off as they grow. Eucalyptus forests are littered with dead branches. The Australian Ghost Gum Eucalyptus papuana is sometimes called the "widow maker", due to the high number of tree-felling workers who were killed by falling branches."

loopylou- this is something people should think about when they plant eucalyptus trees near houses- they burn like hell due to the oils.

Iam64 and Anya - the point is- if you specifically choose a house with a totally private garden and a paddock next door- with a covenant preventing building on it- and the covenant does not hold ( too old and not the original owners) and they build a house not 6' from your hedge- is it fair to be then told to cut down the NOT Leylandii, but mixed hedge?

The people who bought the bungalow with their kitchen window and door 5' from our fence and mixed hedge- bought it because it was quite a bit cheaper than the others exactly the same. The tress were there the day they first saw the house, on their second visit, on the day they signed the contract and the day they moved in...

They went on and on about it- 10 page letters without punctuation! We did cut the height down, but it made no difference of course as they were so close. They went on and on about the eldrberries staining their patio too- and one day phoned to say I had to go over and pick 'our' slugs from the patio. How do you know they are mine, I asked? Well you are the one with the big garden, they are bound to be yours, was her reply!

Very different to a hedge being planted after people moved in and not maintained.
If you buy a house with little light- cheap for that reason.... then ....

As said, the builders specifically didn't build at the bottom of our garden where the leylandii hedge was, as they knew it would be impossible to sell- and put the pavement ad access road there - as it was a small development, that was no trouble to us at all.

Yikes!

We had a neighbour's leylandii hedge burst into flames one hot summer after they lit a bonfire some 25' away from it. People don't realise how inflammable the oils(?) are in these trees. Spectacular ending for a much-hated eyesore ??

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!).

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

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.

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.....

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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