Garden Q&A: What hedge plant will offer shelter and privacy if I remove leylandii?

By earthnews
1 year Ago

Garden Q&A: What hedge plant will offer shelter and privacy if I remove leylandii?

Whether you’re a gardening beginner or expert, Irish Examiner columnist Peter Dowdall has the answer to your questions

A leylandii hedge. Pictures: iStock

Sat, 01 Jul, 2023 – 10:55

We have a leylandii hedge in our garden. I hate it, but the hedge does provide privacy and shelter. I saw your post on social media recently about removing a leylandii hedge. What do you recommend we replace ours with?

ANSWER

I am working on redesigning a garden right now and one element which has to be removed is an established leylandii hedge — a job I will do in the winter.

It has outgrown its space and its time is up.

Mixing beech, pictured, with other species can make for a very interesting hedge.

In this particular garden, I will replace it with a fagus or beech hedge as the garden only needs something to reach about two metres.

I love beech as a hedge and, thankfully, so does the garden owner.

So before I could answer your question, you need to think about how much screening and wind protection you need.

Beech is good in a sheltered area but the brown leaves in the winter aren’t to everyone’s taste.

A green beech hedge.

A great choice in an exposed situation is the evergreen Elaeagnus x ebbingeii which will reach a height of between three and four metres but can easily be maintained at one or one-and-a-half metres.

Got a gardening question for Peter Dowdall? Email gardenquestions@examiner.ie