You ask your friend the landscaper what he's at these days and he's likely to reply "bloody Leylandii". Meaning that he will be taking down or cropping six feet or more off a tree which is a huge embarrassment and nuisance to the owner. So much so in England, that the magazine Horticulture Week headlines: "Industry must act to save image of best-selling tree." Indeed it is a fine tree, but you need to be told when buying it that it can grow to about 100 feet - and quickly enough. Fine in certain positions but seldom in urban garden settings.
It's not so long ago that a British planning Minister warned that "some form of government intervention in relation to Leylandii trees and other high boundary hedges" was necessary. But a tree expert pointed out it was hard to envisage any new laws banning one tree - the cupressocyparis leylandii. There had indeed been big headlines in many English newspapers about "the monster" and about the bad feelings, amounting to rage, at the huge, lightblocking hedges of neighbours. But the Minister's warning merely sent people into garden centres in droves to buy the tree before it was banned.
The managing director of a garden centre, named, said that Leylandii is not really suitable for garden use, but there's nothing quite like it for a quick-growing hedge. "We would much rather people buy alternatives such as thuja plicata, but not many people are patient enough to buy a hedge that will take time to mature." It is estimated in the same article that there are around 55 million Leylandii in Britain and the point is made that while, in Britain, to build a wall more than two metres high, planning permission is needed, there are no restrictions on planting hedges, even if they can grow to 30 metres at a rate of a metre a year.
There is an illustration of a car going along a suburban road in the shade of a hedge which must be nearly four times its height. Standing in the middle of a boggy field two Leylandii make a fine eye-catcher - 60 feet high, about 20 years planted. Very dense branches. Handsome, and in a suitable place. And, of course, our friend the landscaper does admit that while he talks of "bloody Leylandii", at least dealing with them is employment.