The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: jaymac on February 06, 2011, 11:06:47 am
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Hi All
I am looking for any advice on screening my land, I am looking for something about 6foot high and that i don't have to cut every year.
Cheers Jaymac
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The dreaded leylandii is not as bad as folk say. Let it grow to the height you want then top it and it will stay that way and bush out. We used it to screen a kennel and run from teh road, worked very well. Wish the ones here had been topped off as they are now over 30feet!
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can you still not top them off
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Willow? Grows quickly and knits together into an impenetrable barrier. Plus willow whips have loads of uses.
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can you still not top them off
They'll have stopped growing by now - 25 years old I'm told. even Leylandii stop sometime! And anyway how could I afford to get someone to top off 150 trees?
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Fast growing poplar or willow hybrids would be more natural, but will not provide anything in winter. Lleylandii will filter out both wind and noise all year round, but also light - make sure you know where the sun gets to especially in winter...
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I've heard Leylandii is also a very good habitat for birds as it is so dense.
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not forgetting flies. we had a garden with 20ft leylandis the were a right pain it took us a while to dig them out by hand.
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How about a mixture of evergreens such as hollies, flower and berry trees such as elder ,hawthorn and leaf keepers such as beech.You will get loads of wildlife and they are not huge trees that will look after themselves.You can grow honeysuckle and roses through the trees to create more of a screen.
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I've heard Leylandii is also a very good habitat for birds as it is so dense.
Yup, got loads of pigeons and magpies ::) But not many flies thank goodness ;D And they do help block the noise of the trains.
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Over here in NI the planners state Leylandii are not allowed in the countryside as they are native!! Might be worth checking any planning permissions granted.