I'm sorry, but most of the replies in this thread are totally insane.

First of all, Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) is not a true
ivy (genus Hedera). It is a woody, deciduous vine, closely related to
Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia).

The reason it's called "Boston ivy" is that is grows all over the place
in the northeastern U.S., including on very old buildings that have
quite happily endured for centuries. It is the eponymous "ivy" of the
Ivy League.

P. tricuspidata will not, as some posters claim, sink roots into your
walls. What happens is, as the stems grow longer, they produce tendrils
that are tipped by small, disk-shaped suckers that stick like glue to
just about anything they touch. This is not a destructive process.
The stickers do not burrow or "root" -- they just stick, tenaciously.

This is worth thinking about. Once a Parthenocissus gets attached to
your house, it will want to stay there. But most of the fears people
express about this are clearly irrational, as a casual drive through
old neighborhoods in Boston or environs will attest.

I suppose you could think of more finicky alternatives, like ornamental
grape (Vitus) that could clamber up a trellis, or wisteria, which won't
hurt your wall but will need extremely sturdy support as it grows more
massive, or hops (Humulus), which you can get in a lovely golden-leaved
cultivar, and bugs absolutely adore, or climbing hydrangea -- which
actually I greatly admire, but is very slow to get established, and has
much of the tenaciously clinging nature of Parthenocissus -- and yes,
there is clematis, especially the small-flowered, autumn-flowering
kind. But there is no real substitute for the vigorous and carefree
and bird-friendly and tolerant-of-everything Parthenocissus clan.

For that matter, I don't believe many of the scare stories about real
ivy, or Hedera, either. Where I was raised, in Virginia, one can find
ancient trees and buildings absolutely smothered in that, which
sometimes DOES root from the stems, and grows more densely, and is
evergreen, and in its adult life-stage becomes in effect an aerial
shrub. Compared to Hedera, Parthenocissus is a dainty Victorian lady,
wilting away every autumn. I think a lot of people are just afraid of
what real Nature actually looks like.


On 2007-01-28 06:40:25 -0500, "Alan Sung" said:

wrote in message
oups.com...
Wow! That's good to know.

So let's try this another way.

If I put up a trellis, and grow Boston ivy on it, how far from the
house should it be, to prevent it from reaching over and growing onto
the walls?

Or, is there a colorful climber that won't harm wood siding?

Keep the Boston Ivy for a ground cover away from wood houses. You can let it
grow up solid concrete. Even Boston Ivy growing on bricks or cinder blocks
can penetrate the mortar joints. Something colorful and safer for a trellis
attached to the house would be clematis. One difference is that it won't
climb as high as ivy and is probably a little higher maintenance (just
because ivy is almost zero maintenance in terms of fertilizer,
winterization, insects, etc).

-alan sung
Rapid Realm Technology, Inc.
Hopkinton, MA (Zone 6a)


--

Wundern kann es mich night, das unser Herr Christus mit Dernen
Gern und mit Sündern gelebt, geht's mir doch eben auch so.

I can't be surprised that our Lord, Jesus Christ, liked to hang out
With sinners and harlots.* That's how it is with me, too.
* -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832