Plant taking over the world!

Ivy's natural predator is me with my secateurs. After the next dry spell we will have to have an enormous bonfire (checking first for hedgehogs etc.) as we have masses of stuff waiting. There is still lots of ivy in the garden for the birds.

We have those pink geraniums (cranesbill) and blue ones too. Got them from my parents' garden in Switzerland and took them to the UK- to 3 different gardens- friends and family have inherited loads and we brought some back here when we moved! They are so easy to control though, and very soft on the hands with secateurs- so no trouble at all. I always Chelsea chop about half before the flower- in order to extend the flowering season- works brilliantly. Also got white with grey veining, much taller fuchsia coloured ones, with very dark centre, and the 'widow' ones, with a lovely dark veined leaf and almost brown flowers. Again, I Chelsea chop so there are always some in flower.

I love that bit about ivy and trees. In our old house we had a small tree growing between our garden and the next, and it was overlapping the fence which was covered in ivy. One day I took the shears to the ivy, cut it all back of the fence and trees. An hour later our neighbour was knocking on the door, the tree had collapsed!

Thanks for that Granjura. It certainly makes me feel less guilty about not having a perfectly tidy and trained garden!
I also have the pink geranium and find them useful for ' bald bits'. They are quite easy to remove as seedlings. X

From the RHS website re ivy:

When to tolerate ivy

On most trees that are in sound health and are not being grown for their attractive bark, ivy can be allowed to grow on the trunk without concern for the tree's health or vigour
Ivy is not a parasite like mistletoe and does not penetrate a tree's bark or roots; the short, root-like growths which form along climbing stems are for support only. Its own root system below ground supplies it with water and nutrients and is unlikely to be strongly competitive with the trees on which it is growing. It is also found mainly on established or mature trees where, unlike young trees, some competition can be tolerated
Ivy has much wildlife value. As ground cover in woodland, ivy greatly lessens the effect of frost, enabling birds and woodland creatures to forage in leaf litter during bitter spells. Growing on trees, it provides hiding, roosting, hibernating and nesting places for various animals, birds and insects (including butterflies), particularly during the winter months and in areas where there are few other evergreens. The arboreal form is also an invaluable late nectar source for many pollinating insects

Himalyan balsam is indeed very pretty, but a total menace when it takes over. In the French Alps, I've seen whole waterways absolutely and totally clogged up and suffocated by it- nothing else survives, worse than Japanse Knotweed.

The fruits from the Ivy was just loved by balckbirds and thrushes in our UK garden.

A particularly invasive pink geranium. It's pretty enough, but it smothers less robust plants like penstemmons which have completely disappeared from my garden.

Brambles. We are forever cutting them back. In the Autumn the fruit is lovely, but the Postman has a fight with them along the path he uses to the letterbox.

I agree that the ivy is a wonderful habitat and we certainly have a wide variety in the garden. But it is the creeping along that annoys me!
I find a bit, pull it and yards and years of the suff appears! Cutting it back also holds dangers, as the little bits root and grow unless completely cleared.

I like Himalayan Balsam, sorry! Not in the garden, but lovely along the roadside. Apparently removing the flower heads before they seed keeps it under control!

x

Perennial/shrub fuchsia !!

It was under the dining room window but despite severe pruning each year by summer it would virtually obscure the window. DH transplanted it (no mean feat) to the bottom of the garden after dividing it. We now have triffid and 'son of triffid' which is actually the larger plant now.

We have a problem with purslane in our veg. patch and it has invaded most gardens around here. Evidently you can eat it, but not in such big quantities.
But the worst by far is wild bramble - I hate it!

Granjura ivy certainly harbours lots of insects for birds to eat. Last time I cut some back they all came out to defend their territory.

I don't mind Himalayan honeysuckle, (Leycesteria formosa) it's the Himalayan Balsam that drives me crazy. It seeds everywhere but at least it's fairly easy to yank out unlike Fenland nettles that have spreading roots, sting like a taser and of course where you get nettles you get docks

Well, the good news is that ivy is s hugely useful source of food for many birds and for bees too- especially when other plants are not in flower.
Several studies have also shown that trees are not damaged by being encircled with ivy. But yes- you do have to keep on top of it- or else.

The bane of my life is ground ivy in the borders- I did try to dig most of it out before I planted the many plants I'd brought over from UK- but did not have enough time- and it is a total pain. It is edible, so will try to cook it next year;)

Everything. Phloxes, asters, acanthus, bamboo, lilac, any suckering shrub, all become complete menaces. We have a very loose sandy soil, which has been well-looked after over the years, so everything gallops through it and becomes a pest. Every seedling takes. It has been a revelation - plant a Himalayan honeysuckle in one area and it will seed in another 20 metres away. Not just one, a whole cluster and not where a bird is likely to have dropped it.

Ivy here too, we have it on the dividing fence and its brilliant at keeping the garden private and for the nesting robins and wrens but I have to be really brutal and cut it back twice a year or it takes over. OH wants to poison it and get rid and put a nice new fence up but the poor birds will miss it , we've had baby robins and wrens most years and its the highlight of Spring/Early Summer waiting for them to fledge..

bamboo
Anyone got a couple of pandas who would like some?