Goodbye Polar Vortex - How to Create a Living Wall of Ivy

Spring is my most favorite time of year! With the winter almost past, I can start again working on my garden. For the last two days the weather in New Jersey has been so delightful! I hope it's been wonderful by you. Today we are due for another cold blast, but after that it's back to nicer weather. This will be my view in the next few months with two different kinds of ivy on my gothic fence. I first planted the English ivy and later added the Boston variety.

My husband put up the wood lattice for me. This way I could weave the English ivy through it.

I spent a few years training it to go up the fence. It wasn't a big deal but an important one. English ivy can be invasiveness if you leave it as groundcover. I have a great story to tell you! Growing up, my parent’s backyard was initially covered in English ivy instead of the normal grass that you would expect. Moving to Jersey from New York City we really did not think much about it, this was the "Country". What did we know about grass anyway? It took several years to get rid of the English Ivy. The woman who use to own the house, we discovered was an alcoholic. From what we heard from the neighbors she was always trying to hide her drinking from her husband. She finally found the perfect place to hide her booze. Under all the English ivy were bottles and bottles of alcohol. I think my parents counted at least a hundred bottles. It seems she never throw away her empty bottles. It was also a great place for her to stash the new liquor bottles. We found many bottles of liquor still full of alcohol. She was like a squirrel hiding her nuts but it was booze instead. Once we planted grass I swear it did not grow straight. It always seemed to look wiggled. It did not appear straight for many years. It was as if the grass was drunk. I kid you not. :-)

Now back to our fence. I loved how the English ivy trailed up our gothic fence. But it was missing the wow factor. That is when I decided to add more ivy to the fence. Boston ivy is one of those vines that can put on an impressive show. That's just what I was looking for. The added bonus is Boston ivy grows quickly unlike English ivy. Boston ivy doesn't really need any help once it gets started. It now cascades over our gothic fence and fills in the area that the English ivy has not yet established.  The two different vines make our backyard/garden look more like a backyard paradise. I chose to keep the ivy in just one area as to not cover the entire fence. There is such a thing as having too much of a good thing. I still wanted to see the fence in other areas of our yard. The ivy's grow beautiful together and have really made a wonderful addition to our shaded backyard. In the wintertime the leaves on the Boston ivy turn a beautiful red. Then the leaves fall off just leaving the vines.

 The English ivy stays green year round and keeps the living wall looking beautiful. 

It also creates a wonderful backdrop for entering! 

We have had so many wonderful compliments on our living wall. 

Thanks for stopping by!

XO,

Dee 

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