planting conifers

[tinkertontom]

when is the best time to plant conifers leylandii in particular

[sarah_louise]

Please......never !!!!!!!

[sarah_louise]

Leyland Cypress X Cypressocyparis leylandii is a cross between Alaskan Cedar and Monterey Cypress.

The Leyland Cypress is Britain's fastest growing tree reaching up to heights of 90ft and widths of 8-20ft.

[Thunderbird+]

Hi tinkertontom,
In answere to the first part of your question, the best time for coifer planting is I would say is when the ground starts to warm up in April* or before it starts to cool down in September.

As Sara_louise say's, it is a fast grower and can put on 4ft a year and about 30ft after 10 years, so you do really need a lot of space, it can however be kept to a minimum of 8ft if you keep it well trimmed but all too often it tends to get out of hand by many who plant it and can cause a lot of conflict between neighbours. A better choice, I think is Thuja plicata (Arbor-vitae) which is similar to look at and less vigorous and unlike leylandii it will break from old wood if it does get out of control. Good Luck Tbird+

[tinkertontom]

thanks for your replys I am well aware of how fast they grow that is the main reason I want them .our back garden backs onto a college car park so we are very much overlooked ,and as we are on a downhill slope its all the more needed for privacy, we don't intend to let them grow to such serious heights and will not be any nuisance to either of our neighbours thanks for your concerns anyway

[jake-the-peg]

The high hedge regulations would normally be a concern but as the only property on the other side is a car park it sounds an ideal choice in this situation.

You may not intent to let them grow high but they can be very difficult to control. Cutting them back hard tends to kill them so they need to be trimmed regularly and inevitably this tends to get over looked.

You don't say what direction your garden faces but if they will be shading your garden you'll want to keep a real close eye on them.

Good luck with the "green concrete"

[bruciebabe]

Why not plant the leylandii right on the border where you want the screening and then plant a second hedge of beech (alternating green and copper is great) ? The leylandii will give you the quick screen but the beech will grow slowly into a wonderful hedge and when it's high enough, you take out the dreadful leylandii and let the beech fill the space behind.

[tinkertontom]

thanks for that idea brucibabe will certainly give that a thought ,although not to sure about beech though ,I dont really like them during the winter months , but something else instead . thanks again for that great tip

[tomwakeman]

I really encourage you to use something other than leylandii. You'll literally have to keep cutting them all the time-if you leave them, they're so rampant. They also suck up all the moisture and leave horrible needles everywhere which seem to emit this sort of sap that kills the grass and other plants around them. Plus, you'll never be able to keep them as a hedge-they will grow into trees and take over the whole garden-believe me, I'm in the same boat and need to cut them down now. If you want privacy, you could put up some trelliss and trail variated ivy or another climber-it looks much nicer and is much faster growing and easier to maintain than large hedges-or if not, choose some other type of hedge-pleeease!