Talk to me about ivy on a fency at the back of a border

[OneMoreForExtra]

It looks nice, I much prefer it to the fence panels, it attracts moths and hoverflies and is evergreen. But the border always disappoints. It's south-facing on thin chalky soil. I've added loads of compost, mulches and chicken manure pellets out over 10 years so it's better, but plants just seem to fail to thrive there. Is it the ivy roots? Do I have to choose between evergreen fence panels and an abundant summer border?

Can you make the border deeper so that you can plant further away from the fence and have both?

If i had the choice from the start I would say very loudly DON'T have any ivy!! I moved into a house where it is growing around nearly all the fences and it is a complete and utter nightmare. Nothing kills it, the roots are deep, thick and horrendous. It over grows on everything in it's path.
We have gradually been digging it out bit by bit and it is taking us forever. If we don't keep on top of it , which is a struggle as we're both busy and not exactly sprightly, it just grows back again. We've even had gardeners in too but by god it's a job. It is a large garden though.
If you have it, make sure you keep it well contained.
I hate it with a passion. 😂

Oh I love ivy and the local birds are enjoying the berries now. At Christmas you can use the stems for decoration and wreath making. I would keep if you can but cut back.

So you quite like ivy then Angus? why are you working so hard to get rid? Is it actually causing problems or just not what you want in the garden?

I inherited this along both sides of a medium sized suburban garden, so just managing what's there atm. I have widened the border as much as possible without losing the kids rampaging area, but its still only about 1m or a little over.

I’m guessing it’s a very dry flowerbed if it’s south facing, chalky and the ivy is probably sucking up the water too.

What have you tried to grow there? Mediterranean plants like salvias and lavender might do well there.

Yes it is causing problems, from my view anyway. When we first moved in it was up all the trees, fences, bushes, everything! I don't know if there's different varieties but ours is very VERY invasive, you can't leave it because otherwise it creeps up and over everything insight. Ours is incredibly high maintenance and I'd rather get rid.
We have other hedgerow type stuff for wildlife etc though so not destroying a habitat completely.

I can imagine the riding tide of ivy going up everything being a bit much, yes.

I've got salvias, alpines, cistus, bulbs and buddleias doing well ish, and yes I think it is pretty dry in summer. The things that disappoint include roses, peonies, penstemon, most perennisls and shrubs don't really get going.

Maybe I do have to lose the ivy - as I type this it seems blindingly obvious really 🤔

I was in your position and kept mine for interest and wildlife. However it started to look really dingy, the birds didn't care for it and the insects prefer my other plants (well planted garden - great coverage and habitat)
It was getting to be a pain to control as well.

A relative offered to dig it up from the roots so I agreed! I was going to trim it down and paint the stems with Roundup tree stump killer (also treats ivy). I try to limit chemicals in my garden but I knew this was going to be a tough job. Fortunately my relative loves digging (!) and got much of the root up.

Once it's cut it peels off the fence quite easily after a few days/weeks. It's the roots that are the problem.

How wide is your fence? I'd suggest ceonothus and/or star jasmine for flowering evergreens. Passion flower loves sun too although it can get a bit crazy after 2yrs and run rampant. Very easy to trim back and it will bounce back the following spring. Mine's stayed evergreen this year.

Pyracantha is evergreen, great for wildlife and has lovely red, orange or yellow berries on it over winter - depending on which colour you buy - and creamy flowers in summer. The prickliness should be fine with kids as they're not really over at the fence I'm guessing? You need to put some horizontal wires on the fence to support it and clip it so that it spreads across the fence and not out into your flowerbed. It takes a year or two to get going but then there's no stopping it. You'll get more flowers and berries in the sun though it tolerates shade. It has no suckers so doesn't damage the fence.

Clematis and climbing roses are also a good choice for a sunny fence. They're not evergreen and require a slight knack to pruning (easily found online per variety).

I have similar ivy problems, and a similar bed (chalk, ivy plus a tamarisk, so very dry.) The flower that seems happiest there is welsh poppy. Very cheery yellow, great for bees, and flowers like a mad thing if deadheaded (I taught a child to dead head them.) Iberis (evergreen candytuft) seems pretty happy there too.

Next door responded to our ivy depredations by putting up a fence, so we're thinking about evergreen clematis (armandii), a ceanothus arboreus trewithen blue, and maybe a garrya : no pyracantha as it is so bloody vicious

Oh, love in a mist likes it there too, but dear Lord it self seeds like a bastard, so I probably won't repeat. It is pretty pretty pretty though. If it's a small bed, chuck some seed down and see.

It chokes things. I'm having my own battle with some overgrown neglected ivy taking over (what a job that is) and in the smallish area I have cleared on the bed there are so many bulbs coming up which normally would struggle to get through. I think I prefer clearing brambles to ivy.

You are inspiring me, thank you! I'd been thinking of this in terms of bleak bare fences and not being sure I actually needed to do this, but not only are you convincing me it'll be worth it, I'm also getting excited about what I could grow instead.

It's the whole length of the garden - both sides, actually, but on the shady side it seems to be less of an issue. So about 30m and will be an absolute git to dig out.

I'll do it in stages. At the far end next door's Virginia creeper is trying to smother everything anyway so I'll start at the near end while the soil is still soft and replace it with a pretty climbing rose. Good tip about the iberis and love-in-a-mist, I'll try them and hope they out-compete the forget-me-nots which are successfully self seeding to the point of choking everything else out. I do have a struggling ceanothus, maybe this will be the making of it... I find clem armandii tend to get frost-scorched here, but I do like the idea of passion flower too.

Thank you, knowledgeable people!

Whereabouts are you, for the clem to get frost scorched? Are you somewhere particularly far North? I've not had it before, now I am fretting!

Only in the southeast. To be fair, it was on the east-facing side of the house so got the first sun straight onto any overnight frost so might just have been a microclimate thing!

Also consider mulching and bark chip on the sunny beds to keep some moisture in 🙂

I struggle to keep Ivy at bay, so not a fan. How about a climbing hydrangea? Covers well with lovely flowers, although not evergreen.

I love ivy, it's growing over everything in my north facing garden/yard and really stops me getting depressed about the sorry state of the garden in winter.

Have you tried hardy annuals in the bed? I think they like poor soil. Herbs was also a good call, thyme, rosemary, sage etc. I scatter hardy annual seeds in September and then they self seed when they get going. Usually have some bulbs in too, they would grow with ivy.

Also we regularly trim our ivy so it doesn't get scraggly. It does mean it doesn't get to maturity so you don't get the berries that birds love, but we've got lots of other berry producers around to compensate.

Wear gloves and long sleeves if you are removing it. The dust gets a bit itchy as you dislodge it!