Most Gold Leylandii found in the U.K is known as the Castlewellan Gold (Cupressocyparis leylandii) , there are other types of "Gold Leylandii", Robinson's Gold and Gold Rider are also available and will grow well in the U.K climate.

The Gold Leylandii is closely related to the Green Leylandii, but tends to be more bushier and grows wider than it's green cousin. The Gold Leylandii is also known to grow slower in height terms.

Ironically Gold Leylandii is the type more often complained about between neighbours. It blocks out much more light than its Green Leylandii cousin, this is even though Green leylandii grows much higher and much more quickly.

Ideally you need to be planting this at least 4ft apart, at first it will seem to far away from each other to enable them to meet to form a hedge. In reality they need to have this degree of separation to grow to a height of around 6ft where it will then be in contact with the trees to either side.

If you plant to close together they will be in competition for light and water from a very early age and this will slow their development and only take longer to form a stable hedge line.

If you were to buy small Gold Leylandii's at around 50cm in height and plant them, you should be looking at around 3-4 years before they get to around 4ft, and you would be hoping for around 1 1/2 feet per year in height.

We often notice that sometimes certain websites claim that their Leylandii will grow at 15 feet per year and silly claims like that. The amount of growth that you can produce will depend much more on the amount of light, amount of nutrients, quantity's of water, type of soil and of course the trees next to it for which it is in competition with.