Few things are more frustrating than a messy front yard. In addition to disrupting your curb appeal, overgrown, messy landscaping can also harbor pests and make it look like you don't care about your property. Fortunately, tidying up your yard doesn't have to be difficult. I have spent years learning more about landscaping, and this blog is all about how to become a landscaping enthusiast. Check out these articles about fun topics like planting flowers, perfecting pruned trees, and decorating your yard with whimsical additions. After you know more about landscaping, your yard might become the talk of the town.
Ivy is a unique plant that's easy to grow, and its ability to grow on vertical surfaces can add a substantial amount of visual appeal to your yard. However, planting ivy does have some downsides — it grows so quickly that it can sometimes spread out of control. If you're thinking about adding ivy to your yard, read on to learn more about the pros and cons of choosing this plant.
Pros Of Using Ivy in Your Landscape Design
The biggest advantage of using ivy in your yard is that it will provide excellent ground cover in areas where it's difficult to grow grass. Ivy will grow in shaded areas that won't provide grass with enough sunlight, and it will also grow well on gentle slopes that drain too quickly to support grass growth. If you have a bare area of soil in your yard, planting ivy there is a fast way to cover it up.
Another advantage of ivy is that it meshes well with hardscaping features. Ivy will climb vertical surfaces like trellises, fences, and gazebo posts. Planting ivy next to a vertical surface will make your yard more colorful. It also adds some privacy to your yard, since ivy growing on a fence will block the view through it.
Cons of Using Ivy in Your Landscape Design
While ivy is easy to grow and a quick way to cover a patch of bare soil, you do need to periodically trim it. You also need to be careful about where you plant it. Ivy will grow up any nearby vertical surface, including trees and the outside of your home. Ivy can kill trees if it encircles the entire trunk since it will shade the leaves of the tree and prevent them from getting enough sunlight. If it's growing up the side of your home, it can spread into cracks in your siding and widen them as it grows larger.
If you plant ivy in your yard, you'll need to keep an eye on it in order to make sure it's not spreading into an area where it can damage your trees or your home. Thankfully, it's easy to stop ivy from spreading by cutting the stem near the base of the plant. This severs the connection between the leaves and the roots, and the ivy will eventually dry up and die without the nutrients provided by its root system.
When you're considering planting ivy in your yard, reach out to a landscape design service. They'll plant the ivy in areas where it won't accidentally spread and cause damage. A landscape design service can also add features like trellises to your yard that will give the ivy a place to grow, increasing your yard's visual appeal by making it more colorful.
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