We have a lot of ivy growing in our backyard.
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| Exhibit A: Ivy Wall |
So I wanted it gone. Sak, not being that interested in maintaining the rapidly growing vine, agreed. And we began to pull.
And rip it off the wood on the other side.
It took forever, as it turned out to be more ivy and less fence than we thought.
Who knew that the ivy would be load bearing? The fence started to fall over.
And the ivy really damaged the wood fence, too.
I panicked slightly - this would not be the quick, "clean off and paint" job that I thought it would be. The whole fence would need to be replaced.
Penga-Dad, upset that I would degrade my property value so soon after ownership, and right before our house-warming party, of all times - came up to save us from ourselves. He bought us a chainsaw (I'm still scared of it), and took the rotten fence down in five minutes.
We cleaned the ivy out as best as we could.
But there's no way we will ever truly be rid of it. The roots are deep, and extend down in the rocks and concrete!
And really, why are the fence post holes crooked?!
Penga-Dad thinks it's better without a fence. It really opens the place up, and allows you to sit on the upper patio and see the whole yard.
Maybe! I might still like a short, cute border fence or something. But first I'll have to do something about those uneven post holes.
What's your take on ivy? Pretty foliage, or lethal green force?
My mom always said how horrible Ivy was but I love it. We have a historic campus so we have the ivy clad walls - I swoon.
ReplyDeleteI think you should try to rip out as much of the ivy as possible (I'm thinking doing some damage to the roots) and you can put a really nice flower garden (nothing spiffy - just something cute) to add a pop of color to your beautiful yard!
I like Hannah's suggestion! Some pretty ground cover that flowers or something would be nice. And I also like your idea of a small border fence -- nothing too tall or with much function other than being cute (which is really the most important function). I think it looks great even without a fence because of the view of the rest of the backyard, but a small border fence wouldn't ruin that. =) I loooooove your yard! (I am anti-ivy. There are spiders and bugs and stuff in there.)
ReplyDeletehaha goooo penga-dad for saving the day! I think it looks better and more open now too! It's too bad the roots go down though... But yeah a short fence would be cute or a "fence" of flowers or a short white picket fence for cutesy nesss? :]
ReplyDeletea little ivy is okay, but not when it overgrows into an all-consuming creature. i think some kind of barrier, whether a low fence or hedges or whatever, would be nice to soften the drop-off from the patio to the yard (also a safety thing).
ReplyDeleteYou guys are so un-lazy. I hate ivy but I'd probably just let it grow. That looked like a lot of work! But it does look so much better without the ivy.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you can see the whole yard now! It makes it look a lot bigger.
ReplyDeleteI second the ideas above - you should plant a small flower bed to act as a divider.