Don’t let Leylandii’s bad reputation blind you to other hedging species

Conifers get a bad press, mainly because of ‘Leylandii’ (Cupressocyparis leylandii), which grows into a giant hedge at domestic boundaries, causing bitter neighbourhood disputes over blocking out sunlight and the effect this has on the enjoyment of garden areas.

This particular evergreen species has an extremely fast growth rate with dense branches that are impenetrable to light and which completely mask any desired views – but the conifer family has so much more to offer than the much misused ‘Leylandii’ tree.

There are lots of elegant species that will bring great pleasure to the garden, many of which are dwarf ornamentals.

To set the scene, conifers are nearly always evergreen being characterized by needle-shaped leaves and particularly straight trunks with horizontal branches that create the archetypal conical outline.

Most importantly for botanical reasons, conifers bear pollen or seed-producing cones in their cycle of reproduction.

As a species, their distribution is wonderfully cosmopolitan with family members occupying the highest mountains and driest deserts of the globe with many conquering remote oceanic islands. The Polar regions are the only places that have