John wrote:
In article ,
mary prince wrote:

I now need to cover parts of the garden to provide a bit of
privacy ...

Russian ivy - grows like wildfire (though you won't get your screen in
the first year). It's a terrific plant, which after a year or so will
look like the Invasion of the Triffids if you don't keep it trimmed.

Others on this group have poo-pooed it as an invasive, boring
nuisance. Nonsense - it's easily maintained if you can be bothered
(one or two severe trims a year), is attractive (if you like bushy
curves and tendrils); foamy white flowers (which have a mild
fragrance); I was hoping mine would encourage birds to nest but I
think it's too close to my back door. I bought it to be a screen:
it's worked excellently at that.

John



here's waht GQT had to say 1n 2002:


Question from Lynn Walters: Could the panel please

suggest how to get and keep the upper hand with a

Russian vine? We inherited one in our garden, and to

date it has grown over and through two garden sheds,
a

rowan tree and a holm oak, it's currently trying to

colonise a street lamp

Bob: I think that as a cover for wildlife they're fantastic, but they're not
garden plants. I was given one for my garden - beware gardeners bearing
gifts! - and it has been non-stop hacking back ever since. As you know, a
week after pruning it there are new three foot long stems touching
everything around and spiralling upwards. I'm sorry to say this, but if it's
a problem you've got to get right back to where the root comes out of the
ground and dig up the roots right there and kill it off, because there's no
way you're going to slow it down.
Lynn Walters: Unfortunately it's hiding between the garden shed and the
wall! The closest I can get to the roots is about six feet.

Bob: If you just wait another two years it'll have lifted the garden shed
clean up off the ground, and you'll be able to get underneath and hack it
off!

Pippa: Digging it out is going to be very difficult at the moment. The only
thing I could suggest is cutting it back. Or if there are no other plants
near it's base that you want to keep, there is a weedkiller which contains
ammonium sulphamate - which isn't a particularly pleasant thing but
sometimes drastic means are called for. Ideally you cut it back to a stump,
however, you can't get to the stump at the moment. But this material is
translocated or carried in the plant, so cut back as many of the stems as
you can, then apply the ammonium sulphamate to the cut ends of the stems,
and you'll find it has a fairly dramatic effect on the base. You can also
buy brushwood killers, which could be applied in a similar way. But with any
of these things you've got to be terribly careful that you don't contaminate
a plant that you want to keep, and that you don't get the material into the
soil if there's anything else growing in the vicinity.

Roy: Whenever I hear about the Russian vine I think of a story told to me by
a lady who used to open her garden occasionally for charity. They had this
huge Russian vine, and they decided on this particular occasion to cut it
back. When they finally got through to the heart of it they found an old
lost wheelbarrow, several footballs, and a hungry, slightly bewildered
member of the public who'd gone missing the day before!

Sorry, John. I agree with the panel



pk