Just one Leyland cypress tree has the potential to take over a midsized yard if it is not first overcome by pests. I wonder if your landscaper planted three so close together, on purpose to crowd them and limit each of their overgrowth potential. Concerning the Green Giants. These trees are much more resistant to pests. They do need good draining soil which is kept evenly moist, but not soggy, especially for the first year after planting. If your Green Giant tree's roots sat in saturated and soggy soil, that means the roots of those young trees were suffocating. and not long after suffering decay. If your Green Giants did not suffer from too wet of soil, then too dry of soil could have stressed them enough to make their needles begin to die. It takes about three years to get your Green Giants established well; That is, if you do not first kill them by to much care, over watering, or by neglect, letting their roots get too dry. Another thing that can cause the needles to yellow and die would be if a fairly large dog has been allowed to urinate for several months either on the folliage or even around the base of the tree. Additonally, you need to know that Green Giant trees, which have been stressed and are showing some lower branch needle death, will often if the stresser are removed and the tree begins to experience a proper invironment, begin to grow new needles on the earlier, dead looking branches, which were either covered with dead needles or bare looking from dropping all the needles. So, do not cut off any branches, even if they appear to have died. First wait even if it has to be till next year to see if the tree will begin to regrow healthy green needles on those branches. I say that, because any branch you cut off the tree, will not be replaced. If you want Green Giants, which branch fairly close to the ground, do not cut off any of the lower branches. If you do, no new branch will grow on the trunk to replace the ones you cut off. You can take all the dead needles that you desire off your Green Giants, because once healthy the tree will replace them. But believe me when I say, it is seldom ever a good thing to cut entire branches off all the way back to the trunk of the tree. If the branches you cut off the trees are as drastic as you described, It might be best to replace those trees. Just be certain that the trees you keep and any replacments you plant are planted in a well draining soil type of condition, and in an area where they will be fairly sheltered from the cold drying northwest winter winds. Then if those condtions are met, just be sure to water them with at least 1 inch of water a week, whenever the natual rains do not supply that. Drip watering is the best, but a soaker hose covered with mulch would also work. Even then, though, regularly check their root balls to make certain they are not sitting in soggy soil or too dry of soil. After their first year of growing in proper conditions, they will start becoming less sensitve to the issues I described above, and by the third year after they have become very well established they should begin to require even less special attention. Properly cared for Green Giant trees might grow only a foot or so the first year, 3 feet or so more the second year, and up to an additional 5 feet the third year. If your soil is not very fertile, and the new growth appears to be tall but very thin compared to the fullness of the bottom of the tree, then that could indicate your Green Giants would benefit from a feeding of slow release, not burning fertilizer. My Green Giants began filling their tops out much better after in the fall of their second growing season I began spreading Osmocote 3 month acting fertilizer underneath them. I planted these trees as an 18 inch tall one gallon potted size, and in a well draining soil situation 4 years ago. this spring they are 8 -9 feet tall, with a just barely 3 feet wide spread at the base. I chose not to fertilize them this spring, because late last winter we had almost a week of rain which coated the leaves and froze. The weather event was so bad that even my 25 feet tall shumard oak trees suffered from severe branch breakage. My Green Giants did not break, neither did they become uprooted, but the weight of the ice accumulation on them cause their tops to bend all the way to the ground. Even though they straighten themselves back up after the ice melted, and they currently look pretty straight, I can still see enough lean to know that they should not be fertilized to grow taller until they have a full growing season to completely right themselves up again. By this coming Fall in September, if any are still leaning I will consider staking them, and then giving them all a feeding of Osmokote again. Sorry my rely has turned out so long, I thought you might benefit from all this information, since you indicated that growing and caring for these trees is a new situation for you.

First things first. Leyland Cypress. I left the 'y' out earlier. Et al, Great info! No rush since it'll be years before they'll reach a height that provides privacy. I wonder - if I use some of my wife's old grow lamps - they would grow indoors while properly attended to. Guess it won't cost me much to try. I do have some root hormone and it's inexpensive enough to try a little indoor project with hopes of replanting in spring. If they make it till then and die, I would only be starting over about the same time I should have waited for anyway. And then I'll have some form of experience. All that remains is to learn if an established baby tree will grow when planted near\within the current row of trees...?? I'll check out the YouTube as well. Thanks!!

To clarify a point.... The remaining five Leylands are planted in a checkerboard pattern. So they are not only close to one but close to the others. When I removed the fallen hero, it left the insides of the remaining five trees exposed and since they never had light, there is nothing but brown limbs left up to about 12-15 feet. I know that these limbs won't grow. What I was wondering if the tree will make more in their place? What makes a better hedge than Leylands? I need something that will grow much like the leyland but not have its issues and will get maybe 15 feet tall max. Thanks all!

I’m in Portland, OR (zone 8b and love my leyland cypress). We have a variety available here, Island Green, which reaches 20’ tall and 6-8’ wide. Monrovia offers a similar tree called Emerald Isle. These are quite manageable and a pretty screen behind layers of golden ash trees, camellias, and rhododendrons. I also have traditional leylands that I keep in the corner of a planting bed where they only have about 9’ of space. They do just fine and I limb them up and have hydrangeas growing below. The hydrangeas are happy here. The leylands get full sun and receive a lot of wind at the top of our hill. I’ve never had to clean up a broken branch. They get a ton of water because it rains consistently here Oct-May. Winters can get down to 25F, but snow is infrequent. None of them have grown more than 1’ each year in height. Surprisingly mine have put on more width at the top than the bottom, which I’m happy about. These cypress trees and my boxwoods are the easiest plants I have (although nearly everything grows well in my area). They might not be great everywhere but I definitely like them better than my arborvitae. The arborvitae get brown patches, grow slowly, and are narrow at the top. I like my Bay Laurel hedge as well but they grow much more slowly and require more effort and watering. I hope these comments help!