I’ve neglected this blog for far too long, I know. It’s been because of the distraction of writing for Garden Rant, and if you’re desperate to read more of my wonderful words, you’ll find them there. And much more besides. I’ve resisted the temptation to publish the same pieces here, so as not to annoy those who subscribe to both. But tell me in the Comments below if you’d like me to put them up here, to save you wandering off on a cyber trip to America?
Meanwhile I’m about to bore you with thoughts about growing ivy all over your house, just to avoid being controversial today. We attended a lecture not long ago by a man who builds and repairs dry stone walls, who finished his lecture with a diatribe about ivy. Which, of course, can do enormous damage to a wall. If you don’t look after it.
We’ve grown ivy on our walls since we came here 33 years ago, partly because the old stone cottage had had a rendered extension added on which was an unattractive combination. Added to which the whole assembly was rather ugly, so covering it with greenery seemed a great idea.
Since then we have discovered that it keeps the house warmer in winter and cooler in summer. And I love watching the rain run off it. You just have to maintain it properly, which means cutting it away from the windows, doors and eaves, and treating the face like a hedge. Regularly.
We do sometimes fail to notice it creeping cheerfully into the windows, and then cutting back can on occasions damage the paint on the woodwork. So I was cheered to read recently that not only has recent research confirmed the assertions I’ve just been making, but also offered a way to help contain it. See here. RHS no less.
Apparently an anti graffiti paint helps to restrain its clinging. Though I’m a bit sad to see that it says you need two coats. We have just applied one! Hmm..
This is experimental and not especially cheap, so we will see how it does. Maybe we will have to add a second coat……(Bother, said Pooh)
And because that may have been a bit boring for lots of you, here’s flowers… O – and barring new disasters, we will be opening the garden this summer, see here.
And here’s news about a charitable gesture by WireFence.
I love the look of well kept ivy, or other creeper, on a house. We have Virginia Creeper which we allow to go up the brickwork in the summer but ivy sneaks underneath and then carries on up the painted rendered top… which isn’t allowed, it’s not an attractive ivy and it leaves marks on the paint when we pull it off.
The VC sometimes manages to get quite carried away indoors if we forget to close a window.. and then there is the spider problem. I wonder if the anti graffiti paint would stop the VC attaching and maybe deter some spiders from coming in.
Very jealous of your lovely erythroniums.
Virginia Creeper is wonderful on a house. Maybe you could try a small area of the anti graffiti paint to see if it works?
I don’t think it is possible for you to bore, which is why I read always. Good idea to add the Rant here, exposure to we in the States, our gardens and our writing should be interesting.
I could only add my own pieces from Rant so people would miss out on the States aspect. No short cut to subscribing to the site for that. Thanks for the kind comment about boring !! Xxx
You, boring? Never. Always worth reading, wherever the posts are posted. Plus, taking a sabbatical from ThinkinGardens? Not when you are re-posting articles as interesting as the one just posted, by Paul Morgan.
Glad you liked it! xx
How is that anti-graffiti paint doing on the ivy so far? I’m thinking about using it on my house as I’ve got some ivy and it’s reaching the gutters, but I don’t particularly want to remove it. I don’t have nearly as much as you, as the paint seems quite pricey I think I could probably justify one coat but not two. Also do you have to use it all in one go, because it’s a two-part mixture?
The ivy doesn’t stick to it – we’ve done 2 coats, quite narrow. So the ivy can happily reach over it if you don’t watch it – need to regularly remove when it reaches the anti-graffiti paint and that works well. I think it is also stopping the paint on the window frames getting damaged because it doesn’t stick to them where we’ve painted the anti-graffiti over the original window paint.
It is expensive, you’re right. And yes, I think it would be hard to divide it – we used it all at once.