Will conifers ruin my new rose bed?

ClareElisabeth

My next door neighbor has filled his garden with leylandii trees, which are at least 8ft in height. We both have medium size gardens. He has made a sort of maze out of them, so he has loads in a very confined space just the other side of my fence. Issue is, is that the only place I can put in a rose bed is against my side of the fence, meaning the roses will be less than 10ft away from all of his leylandii tress; as this spot gets the most sun.  The soil type is heavy clay, but the garden already feels hard underfoot despite the unusually wet spring we have had... so usually, I would need to apply a really good drainage system, but considering his roots have probably sucked all the gardens dry for at least another 2 houses down, should I even bother digging it? PLEASE HELP

K67

What a lovely neighbour 😨
Will your rose bed still be in the sun when his trees grow, bearing in mind they can reach 80ft.
You are fully entitled to chop off any roots your side.
Maybe building a raised bed for your roses would help or choosing varieties which cope with less sun might mean you can site them somewhere else.
 

Dovefromabove

Has he only just planted them?  And they’re quite large? And his garden is clay? 

With any luck he’ll never be able to keep up with the watering and they’ll all die. 

Pray for another hot dry summer ☀️ 🏖  😉 

ClareElisabeth

Thanks both :-)

No, they are long established trees. Ive not lived in the house long. The site gets very good sun

Dovefromabove

Then I think I’d go for a raised bed ... but first I would dig down along the edge cutting through any tree roots and inserting a tree root barrier membrane so that any new roots can’t invade your rose bed. 

Something like the stuff on here https://www.green-tech.co.uk/hard-landscaping/tree-pit-root-barriers

Good luck 😊 

Fairygirl

Does he keep them at the 2 metre height? That's the limit for a hedge, so I wonder if what he has constitutes a hedge?
In any case, apart from offering my sympathy, I'd go with the physical barrier method, and a low, raised bed if you can get the materials etc just now. Plenty of well rotted manure will also help with moisture retention for the roses too.
If it's the only place you can site them, perhaps a simple irrigation system too, to make watering easier, especially when you're getting your plants established. A mulch too, again - if you're able to get something 

debs64

I grow roses very successfully in half barrels so that may be an option. How horrible to have conifers so close to your garden I sympathise