English ivy, winter creeper and periwinkle are often planted for their ornamental value. You have probably even seen them for sale at local greenhouses! While they are beautiful and do have value in their ecosystems of origin, here in Louisville they behave aggressively and outcompete some of our favorite indigenous plants like Dutchman’s breeches and Virginia bluebells.
If you have these vines in your home landscaping, you can take a few pointers from our Team for Healthy Parks!
- The winter months are when we focus on removing evergreen vines. They stand out in the landscape when other plants are dormant, so they are easy to identify.
- The most effective way to remove English ivy is to hand-pull and uproot an area. In areas where thick mats have formed, a rake can be helpful in getting started.
- Winter is the perfect time to treat these vines with herbicide, since native species have dropped their leaves for the year. This means that herbicide we apply can only affect the non-natives and will have broken down long before our native wildflowers emerge in the warmer months.
It can take years of repeat treatments to eradicate these vines, but the rewards are great: more space for native plants, and less danger of the aggressive vines spreading into our parks’ natural areas.
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