Comments on: English Ivy: Most Hated Plants

By: Becky

Becky — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:47:13 +0000

OK, alll you bloggers. I read all about your hates and dislikes about ivy – but no sure cure. The roots of the ivy on one side of my driveway are solid with roots as big around as my wrist or larger. There is no dirt between the roots, it is that solid. Please offer me some suggestions. It is an awful thing, and when the leaves come – they go everywhere, also.

Thanks, Becky

By: mike

mike — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:41:32 +0000

Hi Carole,
I would like to add to Mary’s comment that you talk about “native” as though the whole world takes it for granted that you mean native to the USA! It’s taken me a few minutes to establish in what country exactly this website is based. (Maybe I missed something?) Please add to your “About” page that you are talking native to the USA! The Internet is global. In the UK, ivy is a very valuable wildlife habitat, as I’m sure you know.
Otherwise, thanks for a great site.
Mike

By: Beatriz Moisset

Beatriz Moisset — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:14:40 +0000

Bill Hilton writes in his blog, Hilton Pond, about the “virtues” of English ivy (href=”http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek110701.html” Pollinators aplenty: English Ivy mixed blessings). He says that the English ivy in his property is attracting numerous pollinators at a time when there aren’t any native flowers and suggests that we “should step back and view non-natives with less disdain until we understand better what roles they now play in their adopted habitats.”

I find this attitude severely shortsighted. It is missing the fact that those pollinators are resorting to the alien plant because of the absence of their natural allies, the plants that they have co-evolved with. In other words, English ivy is behaving as a prosthesis, compensating to some extent for the damage that we, humans, have inflicted into the ecosystem. A more enlightened attitude would be to try to restore the flora that was there before (not an easy task, I realize, but a vital one). Here are my thoughts on this matter: http://pollinatingbee.blogspot.com/2011/07/wildlife-food-and-non-native-plants.html.

By: Finding Native Groundcovers

Finding Native Groundcovers — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:03:35 +0000

[...] invasive. How many of us have had to take out an unwanted patch of ajuga or vinca, or god forbid, English ivy, that went rogue and invaded the lawn, the roof, the bathroom, the surface of [...]

By: Native Plant Restoration, Invasives Removal

Native Plant Restoration, Invasives Removal — Thu, 19 May 2011 23:53:34 +0000

[...] when we first moved in, the entire area in the woods looked like the photo above- filled with ivy. Well, almost like that- instead it also had about 6 foot tall Himalayan Blackberries everywhere. [...]