Hi there,

My garden backs onto some common land with only a 3ft wall as the
boundary. Some local youths have started congregating there especially in
the summer evenings, making a racket and throwing litter and fag ends
over the wall, so for privacy we want to get a tall hedge along the
boundary.

I know leylandii have had some bad press in the past when people have let
them get out of control, but as I understand it they're about the fastest
growing hedge conifer you can get. I'd like to plant a line of them to
cover the 35' boundary - thinking of 10 to 12 plants for that?

We'd like them to get to about 8' high - how many years would that take?
And once they've reached the target height, would it be fairly easy to
keep them to that height by annual pruning (with a ladder and shears, not
powered tools)? The wall is about 25' from the house, so we definitely
don't want the hedges to get tall enough to shade the whole garden or
even the back window of the house.

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers,
Jeff