Leylandii (Pot Grown)

When privacy is urgent — a new extension overlooking the garden, a road that needs blocking out — Leylandii is the fastest answer there is, and plant-for-plant one of the cheapest routes to a tall screen. Its dense, feathery foliage filters wind and muffles noise, and it grows in almost any soil in sun or light shade.

Be honest with yourself about the deal, though: two cuts a year keeps Leylandii exactly the size you want forever, but it will not regrow from brown wood, so a hedge left to run for a few years can’t be cut back hard the way laurel can. If you won’t commit to the trim, our cherry laurel gives a fast evergreen screen on one cut a year — and we’ll happily tell you straight which suits your garden.

WHICH SIZE SHOULD I CHOOSE?

With growth this fast, starting smaller costs you surprisingly little time — a 60cm plant can be a 2m screen in two to three seasons — and smaller plants establish with less watering. Plant one every 60cm (never closer: overcrowded Leylandii thins at the base), or every 75–90cm if you’re patient.

All heights are measured from the top of the pot to the top of the plant.

GROWING CONDITIONS

Almost any soil that isn’t waterlogged, sun or light shade, and happy in windy and coastal positions. Trim twice a year — late spring and late summer — always staying within the green growth. Feed young hedges each spring to keep the growth dense rather than leggy.

PLANTING & AFTERCARE

Generous holes, broken base, bone meal, firm planting, deep watering — and with Leylandii especially, keep young plants watered through dry spells in the first two summers, because drought stress is the usual cause of brown patches in new hedges. A string line at planting keeps the fast growth heading somewhere straight.

GROWN AT NEWGATE

Grown on outdoors at our nursery in Whitestake, Lancashire. We trim miles of this hedge for customers every year — ask us anything, including whether it’s the right choice at all. UK-wide delivery quoted at checkout, or click and collect seven days a week.