I sort of believe that ivy does no harm when it is left to grow up healthy trees and might even benefit them because of the diversity of insect and animal life that live in them. I was talking to a man on a donkey recently. He seemed to think that my theory about ivy is some way responsible for the apparent epidemic that has hit the trees in the Inishowen countryside (his tongue was firmly in his cheek I might add). I think he might have a point though. His theory is that the ivy not only grows up the trunk of the tree, it travels along the horizontal branches. The more the ivy spreads up the branches, the harder it is for the tree to produce leaves for itself. The reduced foliage on the tree means that it doesn’t get energy from the sun. This results in a weakened tree that will inevitably suffer a premature death. By the end of the conversation with the man on a donkey I think we came up with a suitable compromise. By all means grow ivy up trees. Trim the ivy back every year so the plant stays on the main bark before it encroaches onto the side branches. This way it will behave itself.
Horticultural.
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