March 24, 2010

Through the ivy

Through the ivy

When I was visiting the history center in City That Uses Pine Straw as Mulch, I read about how English Ivy is a problem because it’s not a native plant, and it crowds out native species. Then at the Southern Retreat Center, I found a trail that wound through an area that had been completely taken over by the ivy: it covered the ground, the trees, pretty much everything. I tried not to like it. But I couldn’t help thinking that it made the trail kind of cool and mysterious.

5 comments:

Cathy said...

ok, what do you use as mulch? That's what we use -- what do you use? Pine straw is so pretty as mulch and abundant too.

I thought everybody used pine straw for mulch :)

jo(e) said...

The mulch I get free from the DPW is made up of stuff that the DPW has picked up at curbs and ground up: Christmas trees, branches, dead leaves.

Mulch that you can buy is usually chopped up bark. I've never seen pine straw up here. I'd never heard of it until I started reading blogs written in the south.

merrytait said...

Pretty, but very dangerous. I left a comment at FLICKR because the picture wouldn't open here, at first.

jo(e) said...

Merrytait: Yeah, that's the thing about invasive plants. It's pretty to see a whole field of purple loosestrife or a whole section of woods taken over by English ivy, but the ecological cost is high.

Blogger has been acting weird lately -- a few people have emailed me comments because they couldn't get them to open.

Audrey Mango said...

I really like your mysterious names for places and people. I think "City That Uses Pine Straw as Mulch" is my favorite.