Ivy

[whatwouldjesusdo]

if you let it grow on your house, the clinging roots damage it, dont they?

Yes, eventually. It does take a long time, but I'd recommend not letting it get out of control. Thing is that ivy is really difficult to get rid of once you've got it... if you keep hacking it off at the bottom it will just grow back and I always think that the roots just get stronger and stronger.

Having said all that, you do see some houses toally covered and it does look very nice and saves on repainting/repointing etc...!

argh ivy! my ex neighbour let him garden grow wild, the ivy was very thick at the roots and really took hold, the brickwork is still damaged.

My thoughts exactly....better not let it get out of control

well, it's not the ivy itself that does the damage - the bits that cling to the walls are not invasive or damaging, they just grab hold. But ivy can grow into the gutters, and if the pointing or brickwork are not in good condition then when you pull the ivy off the pointing comes too. And how do you feel about spiders?

As MissusC says, once it's in and happy it's very hard to stop completely.

My old house had ivy growing up it and it was awful. Grew really fast and damaged the bricks and mortar. Even if it's removed it's so hard to get the roots off. Never again.

Wouldn't recommend anything to grow up the walls of houses.