Ground Covers From Your Mail Order Nursery



Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2009

by
tn nursery

English Ivy makes great ground cover and can grow in places other plants cannot. The English Ivy plant is often seen as a landscaping ground cover or used as a climbing vine on walls or houses. Provides excellent ground cover and its ability to grow where other plants cannot make it useful for slope sides or poor soil areas. English Ivy can be grown in the sun or shade and it clings by aerial rootlets and by rooting along the ground. Usually no more than 8 inches in height, it features dark evergreen leaves and on older mature plants toxic black berries. Used in hanging basket floral arrangements as well.

English ivy is a vigorous growing vine that impacts all levels of disturbed and undisturbed forested areas, growing both as a ground cover and a climbing vine. As the ivy climbs in search of increased light, it engulfs and kills branches by blocking light from reaching the host tree's leaves. Branch dieback proceeds from the lower to upper branches, often leaving the tree with just a small green "broccoli head". The host tree eventually succumbs entirely from this insidious and steady weakening. In addition, the added weight of the vines makes infested trees much more susceptible to blow-over during

high rain and wind events and heavy snowfalls. Trees heavily draped with ivy can be hazardous if near roads, walkways, homes and other peopled areas. On the ground, English ivy forms dense and extensive monocultures that exclude native plants. English ivy also serves as a reservoir for Bacterial Leaf Scorch ( Xylella fastidiosa ), a plant pathogen that is harmful to elms, oaks, maples and other native plants.

English ivy spreads locally through vegetative growth and new plants can grow from cut or broken pieces of stems that are able to root in the soil. It disperses longer distances via seed which is carried to new areas by frugivorous birds including the Cedar Waxwing, Northern Robin, Stellar Jay, Mockingbird, European Starling, and House Sparrow.

Manual, mechanical and chemical control methods are all effective in removing and killing English ivy. Employing a combination of methods often yields the best results and may reduce potential impacts to native plants, animals and people. The method you select depends on the extent and type of infestation, the amount of native vegetation on the site, and the time, labor and other resources available to you. Whenever possible and especially for vines climbing up trees or buildings, a combination of cutting followed by application of concentrated systemic herbicide to rooted, living cut surfaces is likely to be the most effective approach. For large infestations of ivy spanning extensive areas of ground, a foliar

herbicide may be the best choice rather than manual or mechanical means which could result in soil disturbance.

If you are looking for a great ground cover or climbing plant to climb almost anything or cover your ground so that it is attractive and lovely to look at the English Ivy is the plant for you, it can be found at TN nursery or tnnursery.net.

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