English Ivy is taking over
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
English Ivy (Hedera helix) may seem like a great ground cover to add to any garden, but it is spreading a high rate and it can’t be stopped quick enough in some areas.
English Ivy is a perennial evergreen that uses vines to climb, but is mostly used as a ground cover. The leaves are a dark green color with a light green veins running throughout the leaves. With these vines it attaches itself to trees, bricks on buildings and buries its roots into the structure that it attaches to, which can lead to killing the trees or other plants and bushes around.
There is control methods currently being used, but the rate at which it grows the control can’t keep up. The vines can be pulled up by hand and the roots can be cut repeatedly as well. You can also apply an herbicide to the leaves or cut the stems back in the late summer months, but the waxy leaves make it hard for the herbicides to penetrate the plant.
There are many states combating this English Ivy issue currently, but there are things you can do in your own area to help prevent the spread of the ivy further. One method is to get rid of the ivy once it takes root in your landscape or flowerbed. If you get rid of the vine right when it takes hold you can help keep it under control faster and might even kill the vine at the root rather than have it take root in the first place.
If you have brought the vine in from another location, get rid of it quickly, because once it takes hold there is no getting rid of it fast enough.
For more information visit The Ivy Removal Project.
