Front lawn transformed into habitat

September 2013

A habitat garden shows its true worth at this glorious time of the year. Bumblebees, many kinds of solitary bee, predatory wasps, locust borers, tiny flower flies and countless insects (I am only just beginning to know how to identify) are in a feeding frenzy on goldenrods and asters. Flowering grasses are pollinated for copious seed. Butterflies sip the last supplies of nectar. I feel the sun’s warmth and the sheer energy of color and movement as I stand nearby and just watch.

Compare the scene above with the ivy-covered “desert” of three years ago. The front lawn was already over-run and suppressed with English ivy, where the swathe of invading green seemed all the more somber from a lack of biodiversity. I have pulled and rolled up many bags-worth of tenacious tendril to restore this area. I think you will agree that my efforts have paid off.

September 2010

Pulling Ivy

             Ivy Ghosts

English ivy (Hedera helix) is a fellow ex-pat. but not a well-behaved one in my garden! This plant shows restraint in its homeland, but on this side of the Atlantic it has no natural enemies and becomes invasive. Woodland areas overrun with ivy are known as “ivy deserts” because nothing else can grow through it. Also, it does not provide habitat for wildlife, except perhaps for rats. Recently, I spent a mild winter afternoon trying to save two large trees (ivy ghosts) from being strangled by the stuff. I cut through the ring of large woody stems (some with the thickness of my forearm) near the base of the tree trunk and released the vines by pulling them up and away as far up as I could. Days later the ivy left on the tree is still green and not dying at all! It seems that the vine’s adventitious roots continue to absorb water from the tree bark. An arborist will have to finish the job for me. 

At ground level, pulling ivy is also a year-round battle. I use a method recommended by 

Ivy Out http://www.ivyout.org/ivyremove.html) and roll it up into large logs. Indeed, the soil exposed after rolling an ivy log appears to be dead and dry. A layer of leaf mulch is essential to stop erosion and to build the soil before I can begin to restore the area with native plants.