On 21/6/07 15:08, in article ,
"Lardman" wrote:

Im a little suck with this one so any help would be useful.

Bit of background.

I have one problem neighbour which I suppose over 30 years and bordering 5
properties isnt too bad, we only share a 10 foot segment of fence at the
bottom of our garden with them. Yesterday the chap decides to do some
pruning of the plants in my garden that he can reach, long story short, I've
lost all the privacy in garden and my living room. There were 2 leylandii
which are now shaved to the trunk and an old fashioned mock orange from back
when they were large very highly scented flowers thats hes reduced to bare
stems around 5 foot high this had particular sentimental value.

I doubt the lelylandii will recover if he's cut into old wood. They don't
sprout again. How tall were they? I ask because while his actions are
absolutely unwarranted, he might have a legitimate grievance if the trees
took light from him. Did he ever ask you to trim them and you refused to do
so? If so, and even if not - to restore neighbourly good relations how
about yanking out what remains if the leylandii (if possible) and putting in
some more attractive evergreens, such as e.g. Camellias or Escallonia (what
you grow will depend on where you live, of course) What ever you put in,
you can grow e.g. Clematis through to give flowers later in the year after
the main shrub has finished flowering.

I have two questions.

Is there anything I can do at the moment that will allow light in so the
tree can thicken up on this side where he cant reach but at the same time
prevent the neighbours looking directly into and therefore through our
entire house Is there tree coloured fleece or something I can weave in
whats left of the trees?

As Charlie said, you can use bamboo screening but there is the danger the
letlandii won't grow again and you will always have bare and ugly trunks
sticking up in the air.

Will this have killed my mock orange - I've been trying for years to either
get a cutting to strike or a layering to take. Each time Ive ended up with
no root growth at all and dead twig. I would have moved it to another part
of the garden but didnt want to risk killing it.

Im open to suggestions. .... moving house is unfortunately not an option.

Depends how far down he's cut it. If it's been left with enough stem to
make new shoots and it sounds as if it has, it should be okay. But if your
Philadelphus has been *reduced* to 5' tall, what was it before and, as I
said, was he objecting to loss of light into his garden? 2 leylandii and one
Philadelphus in 10' sounds like rather a lot! If so, you need to work out
some compromise but you need to tell him that his actions amount to trespass
and that he must never, ever interfere in your garden again.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)