That time my local garden club praised invasive ivy as a ground cover

Last month at the Springfield botany meetup, everyone was raving about English ivy for filling in bare spots. I disagreed and said it chokes out native plants and damages brickwork over time. The club president told me it's just misunderstood and needs proper trimming. I pointed to a neighbor's fence that got destroyed by the same stuff after 3 years. They still voted to recommend it in the newsletter this spring. Am I the only one who thinks we should promote native alternatives instead?

2 comments

2 Comments

evaallen12d ago

Oh wow, I can't believe they voted to recommend it anyway. That's like a doctor saying, "Sure, smoking is bad for you, but with proper lighter technique it's fine." (Shakes head) English ivy doesn't care about your newsletter, it's going to eat your brickwork and laugh while doing it. Maybe next meeting you can suggest kudzu as a nice alternative, see how that goes over. Honestly, garden clubs are just fancy support groups for people who refuse to admit their favorite plants are thugs in disguise.

reesea4912d ago

Read somewhere that English ivy can actually mess up the mortar between bricks so bad that you end up with water damage inside your walls. Bet their newsletter won't mention that part. Garden clubs drive me nuts with this stuff - they treat invasive plants like they're just misunderstood pets. Kudzu suggestion was funny but too close to home, I've seen what that stuff does to abandoned houses down south. Give it a few years, those ivy lovers will be posting in a home repair forum asking why their foundation is cracking.