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After trimming a few branches off my conifers, the ivy that was growing inside them has really started to take over and flourish now it is getting some light in there! It've been avoiding cutting off any bits of ivy because I'm hoping it will take over the conifers and it certainly looks like the ivy has every intention of doing so! And as a bonus, can now walk down the steps into the garden without being attacked by branches lol Just need to keep on top of the conifers now to make sure they don't start blocking the way again. The branches have also made a HUGE pile of logs at the back of the garden!
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Never mind Ivy Kat what about Soot
Great plant.
Our Blackbirds love the berries off the Ivy
Pipit
Ivy is great for the birds but unfortunately if I touch the stuff it makes me come out in a rash!
Hi Kat,
I love our ivy, we've got it growing quite nicely on our side fences and it also grows up and through our next door neighbours' conifer hedge. He obviously doesn't mind as he hasn't made any attempt to remove it. Every so often we need to be a bit brutal with it at times to tame it, but the smaller birds just love it - they're in there flitting about like mad. The variety I've got isn't the prettiest, has seed heads rather than pretty flowers, although I suppose they're pretty in their own right, all in all though it does look lovely when it's at it's best - just a lovely green canopy that houses so many little critters. :-)
Regards
Kerry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezmo6310/
You can jut see on the garden thread where I've cut down a lilac that was a bit too big. I cut it down to about 5 feet and let the ivy take over. It now almost looks like a man in camoflage!
Best wishes
Stoat
I'm not bald. I've just got ingrowing hair!
hi KatTai
Ivy is nice but will need watching, If your conifers are high, They will choke and rot the tree and make them unstable.
Ray
a good laugh is better than a tonic
Hi Kat
Actually I love the seed heads. They are, in my opinion, very pretty in their own right and sustain so many 'critters' as you say.
A very underrated plant. Mine is growing all over an old shed and not covering any trees.
Cheers
Pipit x
Hi Ray
Did not know that Ivy was capable of doing that to trees. A bit of an eye opener. Thinking about it Ivy must be one of these plants where it is considered to be a 'pest' species where it had no purpose living on its host other than suffocating whatever plant it takes over
I see that there is a lot of Ivy climbing up largeConifer trees at my local Putnoe Reserve and it is one of the best places to see Firecrests and Goldcrests - they love to hide in the desity of the Ivy to hide in.
I have also been told one of the best places to see Firecrests is a place where there is a lot of Ivy growing in abundance up trunks of trees
so it is interesting what we all find out on our travels with nature
Kathy and Dave
Unknown said: hi KatTai Ivy is nice but will need watching, If your conifers are high, They will choke and rot the tree and make them unstable. Ray
Hi, i was always told that ivy only uses a tree for support, but the only time it can be a danger
is when it accumulates in the crown of the tree where it might catch the wind like a sail, breaking
of the top. And i was told ivy takes no nutrients from the tree what so ever, it has its own root system.
Over here, were i live the older generation of people, would nick ivy that was growing around trees,
thinking they were saving the trees from being choked.