Boston Ivy

[malcolm]

I want to hide the flat roof toilet block to the right of the photo. It's horribly modern in a 1950s sort of way and very ugly but the space inside is useful. I have planning permission for nicer windows. The original plan was to make it look good with a pitched roof like it had 100 tears ago but that's years down the road if ever. I've ordered terracotta lime paint and have been looking at climbing plants to help hide it. I'm settling on Boston Ivy.

For hiding a horrible flat roof toilet block extension what sort of plants would be best?

 

[Cubist]

No recommendation from me, I hate the stuff - ivy in general - not because of its appearance you understand but for what it can do to otherwise healthy trees. Since acquiring Fircroft I have been conducting a vendetta against every occurrence I have found simply because of the number of trees it killed under the stewardship of the previous owner(s). I recall one instance where the main root, better called a trunk, was approximately 10 inches in diameter and after I cut it it bled sap for weeks.

I know too that ivy can also do some serious damage to buildings if not controlled but - if your objective is to ultimately demolish the carbuncle on the side of your house - it could be a good strategy.

 

[Dumsey]

Clematis or a rambling rose?

I would put wires up for whatever to cling to, but probably would not plant ivy because it wrecks the brickwork. Either single wires into wall eyes or chicken wire on the same. (Gardener's Question Time tip the other week - the chicken wire melts into the background on the wall and the plant has more to cling to than individual wires)

 

[RBailey]

NNNNNOOOOO!

Sorry, another IVY hater here.
I am still waging a war to remove and undo the damage from decades worth of un checked IVY.

I have conceded the need for some climber around our front door (as the front of house is very flat). We have opted for a pair of grape vines IN POTS. The pot will hopefully moderate the growth and control them a bit better, but I am also on top of the training.

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[MatthewC]

I'm afraid that I also must confess to being an ivy hater.
I wrote this post on my blog over 10 years ago: http://houseintheenchantedforest.blogspot.com/2011/03/ivy-is-enemy-and-fun-with-joists.html.

I think when I bought the house, the son of the deceased owner realised that he had to get rid of it quickly before it deteriorated further (this was to my benefit as a cash purchaser). One of the main causes of deterioration was the ivy penetrating under lead, breaking gutters apart and (worst of all) getting under slates in the roof.

On the question of what ivy does to a tree, the photo at the bottom of this post tells the story: http://houseintheenchantedforest.blogspot.com/2011/03/plaster-progress-and-felling-tree.html. The ivy actually comprises more than half of what I thought was the trunk of a holly tree!

If you encourage ivy you are also setting yourself an ongoing maintenance task - it HAS to be kept under control, but it does grow very fast, especially when you aren't looking!

 

[d49xc]

Th common UK ivy of the species Hedera WILL do damage to walls etc

Boston Ivy and its near neighbour Virginia Creeper both being of the Genus Parthenocissus does not do damage to walls
I've found though they take the paint off painted wood when they climb over the windows.
I've had the stuff on my house front for over 65 years with no problem at at all to the lime mortar and brickwork that it is built with.
Yes I do keep it in trim round the windows

 

[CliffordPope]

Ivy and any close-clinging climbing plant simply reproduces the basic shape of the building. If you have ancient stone battlements you just get romantic looking green battlements. You have an ugly rectangular box so you will just get an ugly ivy covered rectangular box.
I'd suggest what you need is a climbing plant that needs wires or other supports to cling too, something that breaks up the uniformity. You could have posts projecting above the roof line, with wires and say a wisteria or a vine, to break the stark outline of a plain wall.

Or you could have a balustrade, perhaps with a climber trailing through it.

 

[malcolm]

Thanks all. Good points there. I'm not too fussy about the wall - I think it's a garden wall with nice brick piers that has been cement rendered and pebble dashed then painted in modern magnolia paint. But I don't fancy anything too fast growing as I don't keep up with the plants I have.

The point about breaking up the wall is sensible. Painting it a darker colour should hopefully make it less of a feature. Anything thorny would probably be bad as it's on a pavement, but maybe a Clematis. I could have more than one plant there. The extension would look better with nicer windows but at the moment it's the gent's toilets currently in use as a store room and the inside isn't high on priority.

 

[CliffordPope]

You could paint on a faux window, or a more ornate surround to the existing ones. It's not difficult - just remember glass is black, not white as children often want to paint them in pictures.

 

[88v8]

I like ivy.
On a sound wall, it insulates, provides food and habitat. Integrates house and garden.
But it has to be kept off the roof and not allowed to run over windows as it leaves footprints.

Here was the 30 year ivy we planted on our previous house. It was Goldheart. The wall was pebbledash. Looks as if it was due its annual trim.
Yes, the tree to the right is/was dead, and that lower branch of the old cherry, but dead wood is a good insect habitat so nowadays I usually leave it to decay.



On an unsound wall, yes, ivy will get into cracks and open them, but if ivy causes damage, it's the fault of the owner, not the ivy.

On trees it's fine up to about 8ft. And makes for a good nesting site. Beyond 8ft or perhaps a bit more depending on the tree, I don't allow it. Last spring I went a quarter mile down our lane and cut the ivy out of the trees, untouched for perhaps 30 years, some of it had gone up 60ft or more into oaks. So many roadside trees are swamped with ivy. It kills the small branches, and acts like a sail and will eventually bring the tree down. No one seems to notice or care enough to do anything about it.

If your wall is north facing, only ivy will do the job. Virginia creeper needs decent light, and in any case it's deciduous so in the winter it will be a toilet block with stems.
On a north wall all other plants will grow towards the light, and shed their leaves at the base so you'll end up with a plant on a stick. And in any case, if you have to hack a hole in the tarmac, how are you going to feed and water it.

I think the idea of faux decoration is much better.

Ivor

 

[malcolm]

There is some ivy in the corner at the moment. I'll experiment with colours to start with but some climbers should help. I think the wall was cement rendered to disguise the fact it's a garden wall. The thickness of the wall is more than a brick. It's an interesting design from old photos but the render is cement so I'll not get back to that. There is a strip of grass in front of the wall watered by the main drainpipe for the front roof. It's west facing so I should have some options for planting.

 

[a twig]

Slightly out of the box you could look at using these?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazooli-Planting-Hanging-Vertical-Planter/dp/B075K94HS6/

Other (probably better) suppliers are available but it gives you that “living wall” look but is easily manageable or removeable

 

[LadyArowana]

If your wall is north facing, only ivy will do the job. Virginia creeper needs decent light, and in any case it's deciduous so in the winter it will be a toilet block with stems.

My triffid ( Virginia Creeper ) seems unaware of this!

 

[88v8]

If your wall is north facing, only ivy will do the job. Virginia creeper needs decent light, and in any case it's deciduous so in the winter it will be a toilet block with stems.

My triffid ( Virginia Creeper ) seems unaware of this!

Pictures, we need pictures..........

Ivor

 

[LadyArowana]

If your wall is north facing, only ivy will do the job. Virginia creeper needs decent light, and in any case it's deciduous so in the winter it will be a toilet block with stems.

My triffid ( Virginia Creeper ) seems unaware of this!

Pictures, we need pictures..........

Ivor

This was taken in mid April
https://imgur.com/a/BwPUnPb

And this was last week after his most recent haircut :shock:
https://imgur.com/a/fynmEPP

I do hope nobody pops up and says “That’s Japanese knotweed” :lol: But wondering why my link shows as a link not a picture?

 

[a twig]

That’s a Japanese knotweed!

 

[LadyArowana]

That’s a Japanese knotweed!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I will look for you, I will find you, and I will share my knotweed!

 

[Feltwell]

That’s a Japanese knotweed!

It better flamin' not be as I've got it to!!

Yes, virginia creeper, my house was totally smothered in it when I bought the place, it was completely obscuring certain windows, was under the roof tiles, bloody stuff!

I've been picking it's tendrils off the brickwork for the 13 years since :evil:

Bloody thing won't die either - it's like the Terminator, every time you think you've killed and it can't possibly come back the damn stuff reappears somewhere else - roots must be under the house.

I've also got a garden full of ivy. In some places I like it, mostly because of the habitat it gives for the birds, but mostly I hate it. I'm allergic to it as well which doesn't help, makes keeping it under control more difficult. I look like I'm about to enter the control room at Chernobyl when I attack the stuff! :lol:

 

[LadyArowana]

It better flamin' not be as I've got it to!!

Yes, virginia creeper, my house was totally smothered in it when I bought the place, it was completely obscuring certain windows, was under the roof tiles, bloody stuff!

I've been picking it's tendrils off the brickwork for the 13 years since :evil:

Bloody thing won't die either - it's like the Terminator, every time you think you've killed and it can't possibly come back the damn stuff reappears somewhere else - roots must be under the house.

I've also got a garden full of ivy. In some places I like it, mostly because of the habitat it gives for the birds, but mostly I hate it. I'm allergic to it as well which doesn't help, makes keeping it under control more difficult. I look like I'm about to enter the control room at Chernobyl when I attack the stuff! :lol:

This plant had grown the length of the boundary wall with our neighbour, across the end of her garden and was starting on another courtyard when we got the house back from being a rental. There was a mountain of green waste after I cut it back and I was sure it would give up the ghost, but it sprouted again the next spring. It then suffered the attentions of builders, roofers and scaffolders and sulked until April, which I think is natural anyway. I tasked it with covering the water butt we had installed and thought it might take a couple of years, but you can practically see the thing grow it’s so rampant.

 

[a twig]

That’s a Japanese knotweed!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I will look for you, I will find you, and I will share my knotweed!

:lol: If you do find me - you are automatically entered into a contract to buy my b*****d house - so up to you