As promised...

[rivka]

...pictures of our ivy disaster.

Looking along the length of the disaster. I think this picture actually understates the mess, but it's the best we have:


A couple of side views showing how far the ivy extended from the wall, and with our trash barrel providing scale:




These dark glossy leaves belong to one of our magnolia trees, buried in ivy:


Where the ivy should have been:


A Gothic close-up, in case the full horror has yet to strike you:

Comments

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Ah, now iceplant I have a permanent fondness for. Iceplant saved my mother's house from burning down in the brushfires of '88.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad your mother's house didn't burn down. But if you live in California, iceplant (http://www.nps.gov/redw/iceplant.htm) is an invasive exotic that spreads widely & destroys local ecosystems (http://www.lakemerced.org/NativePlants/TheMesa/mesa.html). If at all possible, it's good to try & plant native (http://www.sbbg.org/sections/visitor_info/visitor_info_level_3/visitor_info_level_4/alternatives.html) or less invasive (http://www.sccgov.org/scc/assets/docs/387434brochure.final2.pdf) species with similar features instead. (http://watershed.csumb.edu/ron/ron_pdf/Invasive_Plants.pdf)

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Ah. It doesn't appear to be nearly as pervasive in non-sand areas, IME (but I am not a horticulturalist by any means).

I don't know that any of the alternatives of the "dune" sort would grow in the very clayey soil where my mother is.