| I live in SW England (ie quite warm n wet which is ideal for this stuff) and it really doesn't compare in the invasive stakes. We've just had a rather warm autumn and winter is a bit shag too and ivy is not close to the top of the weeds list at all. Shallow roots means easy removal. Ivy isn't actually that pernicious either it seems. I own a company and on our land there are three whopping oaks and there is quite a lot of ivy: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.9470006,-2.6381093,3a,75y,... The above link shows a bewildering amount of tree and undergrowth but there are three really large oaks in there and I will preserve all of that lot. It's in a town and a loosely coupled island for a lot of wildlife - it's quite a bit larger than it looks. The oaks are around 200 to 250 years old judging by girth. There's also the remains of some Alms houses to the left of the view, roughly to the right of the pedestrian. If you look closely there is a lot of ivy there! Also two of the oaks have a lot of ivy cover and I was worried that it might weaken them. But: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix links to: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/pl... and we get the assertion: "but it doesn’t harm the tree at all". I'm not totally convinced but I do have access to experts on this (SSDC int al.) so I'll take their advice. |