Question
I have planted approximately 30 3ft golden castlewellan leylandii at the bottom of my garden, hoping that in a couple of years we would have a good thick screen from the road.  Unfortunately the garden got seriously flooded in the July floods (we live near Tewkesbury) and all of the plants have completely browned, they were covered with water for approximately 6 days.  I am not sure what to do, whether I should wait until the Spring to see what they do, or if I should just give up hope and remove them and get something else in.  I planted the leylandii at the bottom as I heard that they don't mind getting their feet wet and the bottom of our garden can flood quite often.  What do you think I should do??  If you do think I should remove them whether it is now or in the Spring (if they don't come back to life), what do you think I should replace them with?

Many thanks
Rachel

Answer
I am sorry to say I believe your cypress are dead.  I have seen them along the roadside here after flooding and they were dead.  6 days is along time to be underwater.  They like it dry...I think I would just go ahead and replace them with something that could take the extreme like that..maybe a clumping bamboo (only) or cattley guava hedge to name a few or plant something higher than when it flooded... kathy