Six years ago, My boyfriend (now husband) picked me up from the airport and gave me a tour of his favorite places in Atlanta. He said they call it “The City in the Forest.” I could see why, as he showed me his childhood home in Decatur and his grandma’s old house in Druid Hills. On some of these magnificent old trees were signs that read “Ivy Kills Trees”. As a zone 5 Chicago gardener, I removed English ivy because rats love to burrow underneath it, but never had I heard that it kills trees. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw the backyard of my soon to be home!
me: I thought Ivy kills trees?
soon to be husband: I make sure to pull it off the trunks of the trees in spring every year (especially after a tree fell and demolished the family room and carport a couple years ago).
me: What?!!
Ivy killed a tree and it crushed the house and carport
When the ivy reaches and takes over the foliage in the crown, it blocks the sunlight the foliage needs to photosynthesize and make energy stores.
Ivy almost killed my soon to be husband!
The door frame stopped the roof of the carport from collapsing and probably saved my soon to be husband’s life. The resulting injury was from a swinging 2″ x 8″.
me: It all has to go!
soon to be husband: How? That’s been growing here since before I moved here in ’97
me: *Typing “how to get rid of ivy?”*
result: Ivy hates being mowed.
We immediately grabbed the mower and set it on low. After three runovers, the ivy was gone. A few stubborn pieces try to fight back every year but they get pulled and thrown in the dumpster.
Recently, new neighbors moved next door. They’re a nice young couple open to good ideas. After showing them the stump of the giant tree that fell on our house, within a couple weeks, the pine tree covered in ivy on the corner of their lot was freed.
Okay, so it doesn’t look that pretty but the alternative isn’t worth it. The first year was worse so it’s definitely getting better. Unfortunately, all the trees behind it are covered in ivy. I contacted the property management company a few times. They said they’d take care of it, but after a year it looks the same. The next step is contacting Code Compliance, the department responsible for enforcing the section of the control and/or removal of invasive plants. It’s titled “Section 158 1 thru 11 – Vegetation” and precedes the Tree Protection Ordinance that starts at Section 158-26.
Code Compliance
Bureau of Code Compliance 55 Trinity Ave SW, Suite 3450, Atlanta 30303 404.330.619
And, unfortunately, English Ivy is still being sold…