"Ray" wrote in message
...
We have climbing ivy which pretty much covers a tree -- up to 40 feet or
so. Does this ever endanger the tree?

Also, I've planted a Virginia creeper at the base of the same tree, and
it's starting to climb. Does the Virginia creeper ever muscle out the ivy,
or vice-versa?

Climbing vines can eventually smother a tree by preventing new growth, and
some are parasitic, they actually root into the tree using it as a host,
robbing it of nutrients. Why would you let vines climb up 40 feet... there
is nothing more ugly in a landscape than a tree covered with vines.