Beware planting ivy & conifers.

Hi,

My wife and I moved into this bungalow 36 years ago and planted lots of ivy & conifers; we sure became to regret it.

What could small container plants do to trouble us the ivy's were very small and the conifers only about two feet tall in fact they all looked rather lost in our large garden.


Making a start removing ivy.

This is a terrible job ivy has taken over. I'm in for more hard work.

An 80' tall storm damaged conifer towering over the garden hut into neighbours garden; working on my own this took a lot of work to sort out.

I few of the logs there were many of these.

This ivy was huge it forming a big crown on top of a mature hawthorn tree; I brought it down together with the tree.

This is what happens to small conifers; last year I felled 15 of these taking two weeks of extremely heavy work including logging and carrying down the mountain to our driveway and shredding the brash in winter conditions; as usual totally on my own these ranged in height between 50' & 65' tall.

Not only do these rapidly grow very tall they have stumps to remove; I've removed eight of these stumps this year to create a wildflower meadow; a bit of exercise does me good but I was younger then at 75 I'm now 76.

Finally here's the 65' tall conifer trunk in all its glory; high wind and sleet made for pleasant working; 15 of these in 14 days I don't know how I did it; it's just a memory now.

The ivy and conifers were slow to take hold but once they got settled they really have taken off; this morning I've taken ten well stuffed bin bags of mostly ivy to the tip these will be followed by many more; will I ever win in our gardens; I don't think so.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Just keep b#####ing on!
Stop at lunchtime......., it is allowed.

 

You have a big job there, but you'll win in the end
I had conifers but got rid of them when they were about 6 feet tall, and I am in control of the Ivy I planted and was trying its best to take the garden over. I'll never be able to get rid of it all but I've got it down to some small manageable bits now.

 

Always makes me tut when I see labels for 'dwarf' conifers. When you read the label, it gives a height after 'x' amount of years. To me, that's just slow growing not dwarf......I've already removed top growth of over 20' on a couple and lopped another couple.
Going to replace them with trachycarpus varieties, you know, slow growing palms that eventually reach 80'....but not in my lifetime!

 

At least then it is your own error, not having to clear up someone else's.

 

Well done @Retired - though I'm exhausted just looking at your pictures! I wish I was that determined

 

Oh, I may regret growing ivy too in the future then... the south is behind the wall, and not that many ideas on what to grow instead then. So far looks hiding that wall well.

 

Ivy only gets out f hand if it is left alone. Treat it like an ordinary hedge and cut it back each year and it is a good plant to have.

 

yes, I have to remove growth on the top of the wall not to escape to neighbouring property twice a year. Otherwise I like green wall much better than that grey concrete.

 

Problem I've found with ivy is its not just happy with going up it eventually starts growing along the ground and then climbing any shrubs it finds.
I'd never plant it again.

 

I love Ivy and it's great for wild life but yes it can be very hard work if you let it take over.
Dwarf Conifers are the same always look good year round but 20+ years go by and you've got a 30 ft plus monster.I've got rid of three this year I was reluctant but had to do it before they got beyond us.

 

It only does that if it is not kept trimmed. The National collection at Erddig grows up the Walled Garden sides and because it is maintained , that is all it does.
Our Holly hedge along the boundary is ivy clad and when it tries to escape into the garden it is easy to snip it back.
Now if you had complained about the hundreds of seedlings which appear, I would have to agree with you about not planting it.

 

I must try to do better.
Its probably the hundreds of seedlings that are doing that, have you tried getting ivy out of the fibres of a palm tree once it gets in there.

Not sure why you would have a holly hedge clad with ivy by choice

 

Well done @Retired you've did a great job.

 

Paint the wall black, any plant in front of it will draw your eye away from the wall

Masochistic tendancies?