Gardens
Cypress gang
Ursula Buchan
When I was in America some years ago, I recall seeing a sign outside each McDonald's with the legend 'Over 10 billion burgers sold' — or words to that effect. I used to wonder how big a pile such a monumental number would make if they were laid one on top of each other surely as tall as the Empire State Building, or the CN Tower in Toronto if you added in the gherkin. It certainly seemed a good advertising ploy, appealing as it did to many people's desire to be one of a huge crowd. I can only hope that the large garden centre chains in this country do not take to putting up banners at their gates which read: 'Over 10 billion Leyland cyp- resses sold'. For it would ensure that the plucky few who have resisted this conifer until now could no longer hold the line and its dominance as the evergreen hedging plant in British gardens would be com- plete.
The Leyland cypress, x Cupressocyparis leylandii, is not a true species but an inter-generic hybrid between the Monterey cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa, and the handsome false cypress, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis. The name 'Leyland' comes from C. J. Leyland, the owner of Hagger- ston Hall, Northumberland, where the first seedlings (which were actually raised at Leighton Hall, near Welshpool) were sent in the early 1890s. This tree did not come into general commerce until the inter-war period but, when it was found to combine the hardiness of the Nootka cypress with the speed of growth of the Monterey cypress, its future was assured. Indeed it is the fastest growing conifer in this country, putting on as much as three feet of growth a year. It is also tolerant of close trimming and a wide variety of soil conditions, which why it is universally popular as a hedging plant.
For some years, however, gardeners and tree experts have been expressing reserva- tions about it, which have nothing to do with its commonness. (The yew is a very common hedging plant but does not, right- ly, come under the same fire.) The Ley- land's very speed of growth has come to be seen as a grave disadvantage. Planted to define a boundary, it soon becomes a too solid barrier which needs clipping three times a year — in May, July and the end of August. That means a lot of afternoons spent risking electrocution with the hedge- trimmer. Not everyone, even the keen gardener, has the energy or nerve for that.
In the gardens of houses (and there are many of them) which change hands fre- quently, any interregnum gives the Ley- land cypresses the chance to tear away. They are the Teddy boys of the horticultu- ral world, kind to their mothers, no doubt, but inclined to get out of hand when in a gang. Although they can be clipped close- ly, you cannot cut hard into old wood. They do not 'break' from the old wood in the same way that yew does.
The Leyland cypress does not even make a very neat hedge. The arrangement of branchlets is quite lax, so that, except just after clipping, it can look a little scruffy. There are far neater hedgers amongst its cousins the false cypresses, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana. It has also altogether too exotic a look for country gardens. The golden form, 'Castlewellan', incidentally, is hardly more of a laggard and has the disadvantage of yellow foliage, which is dingy in winter and makes a rotten back- cloth for plants.
I am not a Leyland hater, but I believe that it should be grown only as a specimen in a large garden and given plenty of room to make its characteristic columnar shape, which will be 60 feet tall after 25 years. I have an inherited one in my garden which is quite handsome, although I would not go so far as to plant one myself.
Because the Leyland cypress has only been around for a hundred years, no one knows quite what its ultimate height will be. However, informed guesses have been made. In deference to their customers' peace of mind, therefore, the garden cen- tres really should put up signs which announce that the Leyland cypress will only stop growing when it has reached about 150 feet in height. Or about 600 Big Macs.
'It's time we had a little talk about the girds and the gees.'
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