darn....that goes to show how much I know about trees and gardening... the cost wasnt too bad, i think, each tree was $45,but yes, I did bust my *** planting the darn trees. The whole idea was to create a barrier of sort for the pool. I watered them every day, with a hose, for the first 4 or 5 days, for about a minute or so each, however we had a few thunderstorms and rain in the days I did not water them, so, we can say they got water pretty much every day since I planted them. the last round of weather, this past weekend, i think dropped something like an inch or so of water. At this point, they are in the ground and I hope thay can make it, unfortunately I had not idea what I was getting into to begin with. I see however a bunch of this trees aroudn the area, used either in homes landscaping, but mostly along the roads, and they seem very healthy. any suggestion from this point on? Should i be worried about them bending to much at the top or is it normal?

it was just planted ... last season.. it has enough stress. .. they are conifers we treat them like conifers.. and if we want single leader plants that grow straight up.. we remove ALL DUPLICATE LEADERS ... and we do it with hand pruning shears.. NOT BASEBALL BATS ... there is a conifer forum .. though i care not where you post ... this is a highly hated tree.. for many reasons.. of which .. you are already experiencing some of the reasons ... one thing i will note.. where you see them grown to perfection.. there are usually professional gardeners taking care of them.. you better bone up on how to become a professional .... as i do not think that this will be a plant and forget situation ... and then you will have to figure out how to do it at 10 feet.. 20 feet.. 30 feet.. 40 feet .. 50 feet .. etc.. it is not within the capabilities of most of us w/o a very large checkbook ... i wish you all the luck in the world with them ... ken ps: and it says a lot that a professional gardener like botann got rid of his ... that is the decision of a man with 40 years experience.. or so.. lol ... Here is a link that might be useful: good place to start learning about conifers

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!

Hi Ritholtz - Leylands are beautiful trees. If you want to trim them that short, they may be more prone to disease over time. It's better to find a plant that you can prune a bit closer to it's mature height. Maybe other can weigh in on this? Neil Sperry says never to "top" a tree. Because I read recently that Neil Sperry (or Howard Garrett) no longer recommends Leyland Cypress for Texas, I marked it off of my consideration list (arborvitae's are prone to a lot of insects?). Because of that, I am focusing more on junipers. You can google evergreen plant nursery for dimensions, "mature" rate, etc... If you are interested, I would do some further research. Last night I was looking at some videos of Wax Myrtle on youtube. I recommend checking the videos and google "wax myrtle trees" images. Yes, they do need to be pruned and trained as a tree (some people want them to grow more as a shrub). They take really well to pruning so it is possible to make them look like a nice tree. I found some really nice ones. Right now, I'm looking at the Majestic Beauty Indian Hawthorne; It grows to the right dimensions, is evergreen, drought tolerant. I would have to find a larger size since it is only moderate growing... Here's what I'm doing - a combination of spartan juniper, Nellie Steven's Holly, Blue Point Juniper, Majestic Beauty Indian Hawthorne, and Cleveland Pear (hardier version of the Bradford Pear - a bit larger and still very dense). I know some people hate the pears but I think they are "well-groomed" and provide good density. Cleveland is less prone to blowing over in an ice storm. Also, according to Neil Sperry, they have a moderate lifespan (25-50 years) and fast growing. In all these trees, I'm taking into consideration - hardiness, drought resistance, density (for privacy) and beauty. I've been reading Neil Sperry's gardening book to help narrow down choices; I recommend it! Hope you can find some answers!