Invasive plant species can be a huge problem for any gardener or homeowner — but that makes the successful removal of them all the more satisfying. One homeowner took to the r/gardening subreddit to celebrate their victory over six entire garbage bags worth of English ivy.
"I love some well-trained English Ivy. Right plant, right place!" the poster humorously captioned their photo of the removed and bagged vines.
English ivy is identified by the Department of Agriculture's National Invasive Species Information Center as an invasive that "competes with native plants and can spread into tree canopies."
The internet is full of stories of American homeowners battling with this particularly stubborn and aggressively spreading species. In some cases, the species has been known to infiltrate the insides of homes as well, compromising entire structures and causing tens of thousands of dollars worth of damages (or even more if an entire wall of a house has to be demolished).
"That stuff is horrible. The one time I've removed it, we couldn't believe the places it managed to grow," one poster commented.
"I have unusually strong feelings about ivy, having pulled out hundreds of square feet of ivy from the house we bought about 18 months ago," wrote another poster.
"There was so much ivy over everything, we did not see that a thirty foot tree had fallen into our fence at some point. Someone had trained the ivy up the trees and the vines were as thick as a forearm. It killed about a dozen trees."
"Oh man — I do not like English Ivy and as far as I am concerned there is no right place for it. It is so invasive and kills the stuff it gets wrapped around," another chimed in.
Whenever you're planting something new in your yard, it is always advisable to check and make sure you're going with a native species that will not cause headaches and cost you tons of money down the road. As attractive as an outer wall covered in ivy might seem, the costs far outweigh the benefits.
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