"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 21/6/07 15:08, in article
,
"Lardman" wrote:


SNIP

I doubt the lelylandii will recover if he's cut into old wood. They don't
sprout again.

The back of the tree is a complete loss hes basically cut to the trunk -
which seems pointless to me as this side will eventually grow back and
thicken but they'll have nothing but trunk and stumps.

How tall were they?

13' - trimmed twice a year to keep them at that height.They form a hedge
across the bottom of the garden which has been there 30years, they predate
the building of their house and only the bottom left corner 10' boundry is
shared with this person.

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?

I did just type out a heap of text explaining the position and reasoning for
the hedge and its height but Im reluctant to enter into the leylandii good/
bad debate. By all accounts no he has no legitimate or legal grievance - the
trees block very little light from his garden, to the extent that the high
hedge act allows them to be another 8' before reaching the action height.
They are that height as it is the *minimum* I can have and leave the bedroom
windows screened - last time they werent a telescope was pointed at them.

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.

Id love to - but they wouldnt give me the cover the leylandii do at a higher
level - and Im not getting any younger...

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!

There's plenty of stem but the lack of leaves gave me concern - Will there
be enough energy left to sprout without any leaves at all? the Philadephus
?? (--- you learn something new each day dont you) was throughout the
leylandii as you suggest a clematis might be, it too had been there 30 years
and had grown in and around the trees. Its a far different plant to the foot
tall bushes I see in the garden centre. The smell is so pungent, of a calm
summers evening you could smell it 30' away.

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.

He's well aware of this - I've spoken to him about it before and also
exchanged letters over it. But as he rightly said to his wife "Its cut now
what are they going to do about it". He has no interest in compromise or
neighbourly relations this is just the lastest problem we've had with them.


Lard