HYBRID WARFARE
You were probably unaware that while all the attention is being focussed on militant Islamic terrorism in the UK, there are meanwhile an estimated 17,000 leylandii wars going on in the country.
Leylandii can grow to 25 metres high (that's 80 feet for the metrically impaired) and are often used as wind breaks or for privacy. But if they grow out of control they cast shadows, depriving neighbour’s gardens of light. And that's the reason for the warfare.
The British government estimates that 10,000 – 100,000 people suffer from high hedge problems, and while mediation is successful in most cases (85%), large court costs are involved in these disputes. A couple in Northumberland have spent £25,000 in legal fees to have a leylandii cut down, while down in Southampton, a thriving £70-an-hour conciliation service is run by psychologist Naomi King-Li to resolve hedge disputes.
The species is named after C. J. Leyland, who discovered the natural hybrid of two trees in South Wales back in 1888. If you want to get technical, Leyland cypress is a hybrid of Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) and Alaska-cedar, also known as Nootka cypress, (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis).
Six hybrid seedlings (unknown to be hybrids at the time) derived from the Nootka mother tree were taken by Leyland to Haggerston Castle estate in central England where they grew rapidly into large trees. Things have been going downhill ever since, which is a pity as the leylandii is from two variants of the cypress tree which in Old Testament imagery stands as a symbol of grace, fruitfulness and peace.
But where does the warfare come in? Well, while the British courts are bogged down with an influx of Leylandii cases, some normally God-fearing people have taken the law into their own hands.
In the Welsh town of Powys, a man was murdered when a Leylandii case dispute intensified. Elsewhere, shots were exchanged between rival factions in the upmarket Berkshire horse-racing town of Newbury.
I suppose you could say that the high cost of Leylandii litigation gives a whole new meaning to Hedge Funds.
Leylandii can grow to 25 metres high (that's 80 feet for the metrically impaired) and are often used as wind breaks or for privacy. But if they grow out of control they cast shadows, depriving neighbour’s gardens of light. And that's the reason for the warfare.
The British government estimates that 10,000 – 100,000 people suffer from high hedge problems, and while mediation is successful in most cases (85%), large court costs are involved in these disputes. A couple in Northumberland have spent £25,000 in legal fees to have a leylandii cut down, while down in Southampton, a thriving £70-an-hour conciliation service is run by psychologist Naomi King-Li to resolve hedge disputes.
The species is named after C. J. Leyland, who discovered the natural hybrid of two trees in South Wales back in 1888. If you want to get technical, Leyland cypress is a hybrid of Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) and Alaska-cedar, also known as Nootka cypress, (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis).
Six hybrid seedlings (unknown to be hybrids at the time) derived from the Nootka mother tree were taken by Leyland to Haggerston Castle estate in central England where they grew rapidly into large trees. Things have been going downhill ever since, which is a pity as the leylandii is from two variants of the cypress tree which in Old Testament imagery stands as a symbol of grace, fruitfulness and peace.
But where does the warfare come in? Well, while the British courts are bogged down with an influx of Leylandii cases, some normally God-fearing people have taken the law into their own hands.
In the Welsh town of Powys, a man was murdered when a Leylandii case dispute intensified. Elsewhere, shots were exchanged between rival factions in the upmarket Berkshire horse-racing town of Newbury.
I suppose you could say that the high cost of Leylandii litigation gives a whole new meaning to Hedge Funds.
posted by antwerpalan at
3:06 am
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