"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

"Richard M" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all!

I'm totally new to gardening and this group, so would appreciate any
help you can give! I've looked through the archive, but can't find
anything completely relevant. So, thanks in advance for any help you
can give!

I'd very much like to plant climbers of some sort on the front and back
walls of my house (a north and a south facing wall). But, the property
has a history of (1) subsidence owing to wisteria on the south-facing
wall abstracting water from the soil causing movement to the property
(London soil), and (2) damage to brickwork from ivy on the north-facing
wall. Apparently, I am going to have to remove both of these climbers.


On the north side of our house we have Boston Ivy, (Parthenocissus
tricuspidata), it clings by suckers to
the face of the brickwork. It doesn't do any damage I'm aware
of, and all the maintenance it gets is once a year (soon, if the weather
turns mild) I cut it off at the level of the top of the ground floor
windows. Once cut, you can just pull it off, gently does it and you can
get the whole length of it. It does spread all over the front of the
house, and head for next
doors if not cut back.

It looks fantastic when the foliage turns a rich reddish brown in autumn,
and birds love to roost in it through the summer, they usually disappear
at
a rate of knots when the front door is opened, the Mrs jumps out of her
skin
every time, she never learns. :-))

The only slight downside is in late autumn, after the red/brown display,
the
leaves fall off the leaf stalks, leaving the stalks sticking out like
bristles and it looks really stupid until the stalks also fall off.

HTH
Steve


Also a beautiful description of my Boston Ivy.
I have already commented on the Wisteria but I might now add that the only
damage an ivy will do is to already poor pointing and brickwork. If the wall
is in good condition then an ivy will do no harm .