Think those ivy-covered towers are pretty? Unfortunately, English Ivy (Hedera helix) is one of the most pernicious, nasty, and destructive of the invasive plants because it not only destroys native habitat, it can also destroy your house.
That is why I’ve added English Ivy to the Most Hated Plants list.
We can thank some very early European colonists for bringing this plant to this country in their quest to create welcoming landscapes that reminded them of their home far away.
It continues to be sold in Home Depots and nurseries across the country for exactly the reasons that make it so invasive: it grows quickly and requires absolutely no maintenance. This makes it very convenient for Home Depot to continue to sell this plant even though it is destroying native ecosystems across the country. (I continue to dream that Home Depot and every store like them will wake up to the consequences of their actions, silly me).
Hedera helix grows by spreading runners which climb over and smother anything and everything in their path including buildings, shrubs, and trees.
If you’re a homeowner, you REALLY do not want this plant climbing up your walls. The rootlets will burrow into masonry, eventually weakening them to the point of collapse. On wooden siding the dense cover retains moisture, which causes fungus and decay, while the rootlets pry apart siding and eventually rip your outer walls apart.
As a ground cover, the quick growth and dense cover shade out native plants and suppress their growth. In tree canopies, the enormous weight of the Ivy will eventually topple each tree. The rootlets burrow under the bark, causing fungus and decay while creating opportunities for disease to enter.
English Ivy is dangerous because it can spread very quickly through native woodlands, both by it’s creeping runners, and seed dispersal by birds who eat the berries. As it spreads, native species are lost and biodiversity is reduced until we are left with a very simplified ecosystem or monoculture that is unable to perform all ecosystem services which are essential to wildlife and human survival.
Every spring I fight what feels like a losing battle chasing down ivy runners that have sprung up in my garden because this plant is in every yard that surrounds my yard. It really makes me kind of cranky because while my neighbors are doing no maintenance of their properties, I am doing constant battle to keep this plant out of my yard.
So that’s my rant. What’s your most hated plant?
© 2010, Carole Brown. All rights reserved.
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I have two: in my garden Caesarweed (Urena lobata)..although pretty, it is a class I invasive on the FLEPPC.org list and constantly reseeds requiring constant weeding. I do think that maybe the recent freeze did it in tho….I need to mulch the area HEAVILY now to prevent those little seedlings from getting started up. Rapid invader that takes over and crowds out native plants.
Outside my garden I’d choose Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia) because it is severely affecting the natural ecosystems by crowding out natives and I’ve seen firsthand what it is capable of in our local parks. It is actually a very pretty plant with berries enjoyed by birds…which readily carry and seed areas proliferating damage. It is a prohibited plant in Florida.
On the subject of English Ivy, I recently got a book called “Wildlife-Friendly Plants” written by Rosemary Creeser which lists English Ivy as a choice and worse–uses it as a sample on how to plant a vine. I was appalled and plan to write a review of this book noting NOT to purchase or use it as a reference.
Thanks for bringing up the subject!
Loret: I wrote about Brazilian Pepper after a recent visit to Florida. That is one nasty plant!
Authors who try to sell “wildlfe habitat gardening” books by recommending invasive plants are on my “most hated people” list! Just kidding, but it really makes me mad when folks try to jump on the wildlife habitat bandwagon and they are clueless. They are doing so much damage because people plant what they recommend. Can’t wait to read your review!
You got me motivated to head over to amazon!
http://bit.ly/dxxfnB
Loret: You go girl! How can we convince folks that some plants are really harmful to wildlife and natural areas if people continue to spread misinformation in their books. We have to educate authors as well. Thanks.
I’m a bit hesitant to confess this, especially with my wisteria issue. I can absolutely do without…lemon balm. Yes, it’s nice in tea. Yes, it makes a lovely lemon bread. Yes, it re-seeds everywhere and puts down roots that take years of weeding to remove. UGH. No plant runs rampant in my yard like lemon balm. (Well except , you know…)
Lisa, it’s very funny to compare Lemon Balm with Chinese Wisteria! I’ve never had a problem with Lemon Balm, but Chinese Wisteria is very, very bad in my neighborhood. I’m really glad I don’t have that problem too.
I’m glad to say that there is no English Ivy in my garden. I’m learning so much from what you share Carole; I have to agree that there are lots of books about wildlife and nature gardening which suggest plants I’d no longer choose. I can now pick them out pretty quickly from the ‘good’ ones and I choose not to write reviews of them because I can’t recommend them.
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Alison, I agree. You’ll notice there are many books on creating wildlife habitat gardens, bird gardens, butterfly gardens, etc that do not appear anywhere on these pages. Most folks don’t take the time to research a plant before they put it in their gardens, and any book that recommends invasives is causing way more harm than good in my opinion. Glad you’re learning about “good” plants for your garden!
Thank you! When I bought my house, 3 years ago, the property was infested with English Ivy. All the trees were covered in it, and it had already killed some of them. We’ve gotten it out of the trees (some of the vines were so thick they had to be sawed through) and are now battling it on the ground. It does indeed smother everything in its path. I don’t even want to think about how many hours I’ve spent pulling it up, and there is still so much of it out there. Unfortunately, my neighbor on one side has it in his yard, all along the property line, so I will never really be free of it.
Elisa, blowtorch? Just kidding. Some of my neighbors are totally clueless about the endless aggravation they cause me. Keep up the good fight!
Actually the blowtorch is an option. When my back and hands get tired from pulling, I DO turn the propane torch on it! Seems just as effective as pulling (at least on the short rootlets that break easily) and it is very satisfying to watch them fry!
Linda, You’re cracking me up. I, too, sometimes find great pleasure in getting the torch out. Frying invasive plants feels really good!
I have empathy for you Carole! It is sad that we enter our gardens and sometimes see them as a battle ground! I knew English Ivy was bad but had no idea it was so destructive. You ask what is my most hated plant? Thank you for the opportunity to rant! I inherited Bishop’s Weed… also known as goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria L.) Horrid tenacious invasive plant. I could shout for hours about this pernicious creature, but will only say that I was nearly defeated by it… back in my more perennial gardening days. Now I have more shrubberies and small trees in the gardens. I simply cannot grow many delicate plants … most of my plants have to be thugs. Luckily there are many natives and other beloved flora that grow taller than bishop weed’s one foot height… with wider leaves too, and though they do not kill it (nothing can!), they do weaken the vigor of BW. I am working hard trying to keep it from spreading more. At least it cannot climb … and for that I am deeply thankful! Whenever I share some of my beloved garden plants, I have to present them as bare root… I am very fastidious so as never to give these criminals away. Here is a useful site to learn more so as to avoid this plant. http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/aepo1.htm ;>))
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Carol, Bishop Weed is my nemesis in the front yard. We pull and pull, and a week later it’s all over again. I totally sympathize with your plight! Yes, a place to have a good rant is always a good thing. You’re welcome to rant here any time you want!
I will try not to abuse your kind offer Carole! LOL! I felt so much better having written all that! It seems you have more than your fair share of invasive plants! ;>(
Carolflowerhill´s last blog ..RAINBOW COLORS and a GARDEN PALETTE
I have neither English Ivy nor Wisteria in my yard, or near my yard, but I have seen it consume other people’s homes, so I do understand your contempt. As for me, I have a love/hate relationship with Gambel Oak, otherwise known as scrub oak. It has very specific growing requirements as far as elevation and soil, and I am “lucky” that it likes where my land lies. Everyone who sees it would like it, but if you have it, you can never really get rid of it. It’s roots are somewhat like Aspen trees, in that they form a kind of living colony underneath the soil. But, I do like them for their wildlife protection and erosion control. And, they don’t ever climb up peoples’ houses
Kathy
Kathy Green´s last blog ..Frosting the Garden
Interesting — I bought an English Ivy at Home Depot last Spring (sorry, now that I know I won’t do it again). Anyway, I managed to kill it like many of the other plants that I love to death. I killed the Virginia Creeper too and they said that one was easy to grow.
Boy do we have a big ivy problem in our year round creek here in Northern Coastal California. The ivy must have come in from someone’s garden years ago. We are in the redwoods and the native plants are absolutely chocked with the invasive, non-native ivy. My young adult daughter arranged friends to hold a restoration day and they were able to pull a lot of it, but it’s a drop in the bucket. It grows intermingled with poison oak and needless to say some of them ended up with the rash in spite of our best efforts. The invasive ivy is a tragedy that confounds us. Thanks for getting the message out.
Warm Regards, Cynthia Bailey MD
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Cynthia, OUCH! Poison oak does not sound like fun at all. But kudos to your daughter for her interest in restoration! The whole reason for this feature (Most Hated Plants) is to try to educate folks that some (most?) of the plants sold at the big box stores and sadly many nurseries do not provide anything for wildlife, and in some cases are very dangerous for the environment.
The first plant that came to mind was Vinca minor. To me this plant is over-used in the home landscape and is becoming a greater threat to the native environment. I’ve seen excaped plants running rampant through the understory of woodland edges and blocking out native woodlanders like Canada Mayflower. Physical barriers, like stream beds, do moderate its spread.
I’ve ripped out the vinca at my home and am replacing it with natives like 3-toothed cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentata), Heuchera villosa, and Moss phlox.
In regards to English Ivy, I think there was an artle in American Gardener last year on controlling and replacing the ivy. I’ll check and get back to you.
Curtis
Curtis, it’s amusing to me (NOT) that when my neighbors want something different than ivy, their first choice to replace it with is Vinca. I think these two plants must be the most-sold plants at most nurseries. Your blog is great. Welcome to the blogiverse! For those of you who haven’t seen his blog, click on his name and go check it out.
My most-hated plant is the kousa dogwood – not because it’s invasive, but because it has largely replaced native dogwoods in so many landscapes over much of the U.S. What a loss for our birds! Our native dogwoods – flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), pagoda dogwood (C. alternifolia), and shrub dogwoods such as gray dogwood (C. racemosa) have nutritious berries and provide prime nesting spots for many of our native birds. To me the kousa represents the triumph of landscaping just for ease and pretty flowers rather than with any sense of place or concern for native wildlife.
Janet Allen
Syracuse, NY
It’s such a shame to me that the default choices offered by nurseries and big box stores are not native, because like you said, these exotics are reducing biodiversity and providing much less use for our native wildlife.