I have inherited a garden with a long, deep border, sloping towards the lawn which features a variety of cypress trees up to 20 ft tall (I estimate) - I haven't established the exact varieties. I reckon they were probably planted 12 years or so ago. I do not border a neighbour on that side but an small, unsightly unworked quarry that needs to be screened . The border is NW of the rest of my garden so light is not a problem. The garden is very exposed to winds.

I have 2 questions:
1. I've lost a couple of hefty trunks (most of the trees have more than one) in high winds in the last couple of years - have I just been unfortunate? Or should the trees be 'topped' to avoid this, which may spoil their shape?

2. I have mixed success in establishing other plants in the border. Some skimmias has been successful and a lavatera and there are euonymus and philadelphus and some periwinkle(though much of the periwinkle failed to regenerate after serious weeding) which was present already. We garden on sandy soil and that border is often dry. I want to know if it is worth spending the time and money on soil improvement/irrigation to grow a wider variety of plants in front of the cypresses or must I just stick to drought tolerant plants?

(Originally posted as reply to Lleylandii hedge thread...but I think people had lost interest on that one!...)

Thanks
David