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| Photo Credit: Jennifer Manning |
| This ivy has grown through the center of this shrub and is competing with the plant for nutrients and space. |
Ivy is a wonderful addition to the garden. It can be planted in many different areas for a variety of reasons, from a groundcover that stops soil erosion to a topiary sculpture that offers garden interest. Ivy can also quickly provide a rich evergreen groundcover. However, ivy stems spread quickly and put out small roots that adhere to soil or any rough surface. Once it’s established itself, ivy can become invasive to other plants if proper pruning isn’t followed on a regular basis.
Although climbing, spreading ivy may look romantic to some, if you want to keep your surrounding plants healthy and free from disease and insects, it’s extremely important to stop ivy from growing up trees and twining into shrubs. Here are a few quick and easy ways to keep your trees and shrubs ivy-free. Trees
| Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Jennifer Manning | | Ivy on the trunk of a tree creates an environment of moisture that invites insects and decay. |
How many times have you walked through a garden and seen ivy gracefully winding its way up a tree trunk? Many people love this look and encourage this growth. But you should always remove ivy from a tree. Ivy itself is not really the problem, but the environment that it creates is: It helps moisture stay against the bark of the trunk, creating a state of constant wetness, which also attracts insects. It also covers up any developing problems with the tree. Many tree diseases and decay become major problems because they were hidden by ivy growth.
If you have a tree with a lot of ivy coverage, there are a few simple steps you can take to remove the ivy. The first is to eliminate the ivy that’s climbing up the tree. Go around the trunk and cut out a vertical section of ivy about 1-2 feet wide around the entire tree – that’ll cut all the roots going to the upper section of the ivy. Remove the cut section, but leave the upper ivy alone until it starts to die. It takes awhile before you’ll notice that the ivy is dying, but be patient – it’ll happen gradually. (Ivy is much easier to remove once it’s dead.)
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