From: Karen Fletcher


Lecher9000 wrote:
: Hi,

: I've decided on Leyland Cypress as a tall "living fence"
privacy
: screen. I've noticed there are about 3 main varieties : green, blue, and
: yellow. Looks to me like the blue and green varieties are the most dense
and
: best at screening completely.

: Another concern is whether I can trust the picture of the mature tree
that
: is attached to it, regarding how full the tree gets (having no holes to see
: through).

: Anyone have any advice / experiences with their Leyland Cypress
to
: relate ?

They will get very big, very fast. If you want to maintain them as a high
hedge, they take considerable maintenance. Left unchecked and in a
favorable climate, they grow huge, shading gardens, darkening horizons.
They can end up making life gloomier fo you and possibly for your
neighbors. Drive around town a look at the number of houses darkened by
overgrown evergreens. There, but for the grace of regular hedge-trimming,
go you in 10 years.

Before you plant any hedge, make sure you have sufficient space,
especially width and overhead clearance. If you are planning to maintain
it at a certain height, get a realistic idea of the maintenance
requirements. Not everyone can manage their own tall hedge that requires
working on a ladder with power tools, so you may need to budget for annual
maintenance. Neglecting a high maintenance hedge does make it low
maintenance but it's better to choose a plants for a low-maintenance
hedge in the first place.

With Leyland Cypress and others screening plants that eventually get very
tall, make sure you are planting well away from residences. Look ahead
10-15 years, will you eventually be shading your own house and garden
space and/or that of your neighbors? Keep in mind that any hedge on a
boundary between properties will add a burden of hedge maintenance for
your neighbors, too.

-- Karen

Any other suggestions then for an evergreen privacy "border? I just put in a
pool, and I've got a town ballfield (and large "buffer zone") to the East.

I was thinking of a mix of Hemlocks and Aborvite, but I'd like a number of
different varieties of evergreen shrubs to keep things "interesting" (Some
things that grow tall and skinny, tall and fat, dark green, maybe some yellow,
light green, etc...)

I'm all for some Yew, but only if it's faster growing than usual.

TIA