Ivy on wall of house.

I have ivy on the front wall of our house, 2 different types. I have a lot of the virginia creeper, thats the one that has lovely red leaves in the summer and sheds in the winter. My problem is when all the leaves are gone and your back to all the timber all over the wall it can look very grubby as our wall is white and its very hard to paint in between all the little bits and pieces of timber. Anybody else find this a problem or any solution.

If I was you I'd get rid of the ivy. It's messy, a haven for slugs/snails and could undermine the building structure if it gets into crevices, attic spaces etc. We had it on an external wall and never regretted removing it a few years back (other than the tortuous work involved at the time).

Dont rush to remove the ivy as it is a very important plant on which many insects, birds and bats depend. Ivy is also the last source of nectar in the autumn and without it we would probably have no wild bees. It is attractive to look at and unless your house is ancient and full of cracks, which I doubt, ivy will do no harm. We have very few native evergreen plants in Ireland and because of this ivy plays an essential role in providing food and shelter and nesting places for wildlife. Even in the heart of a city, plants such as ivy play an important role and if we nurture them we contribute to truly sustainable living. I have thick ivy on the wall outside my office door and currently there are a robin, a house sparrow and a starling nesting in it. Has to be worth retaining.

I've got a nest on mine as well and all winter 2 little birds were actually perched each night in the ivy by the wall.

Nice one Ash

Its really great the way our homes can nurture nature and wildlife with just a little thought from us. Ivy on a wall is just one of the many ways. Its also a really important source of late food for song birds such as blackbirds and thrushes and bats need it for shelter as we have cut down all our old trees that had holes in them which were the places where they could rest up and sleep. Even old buildings which they tended to colonise have been renovated so bats are now quite scarce and need help. Bats eat an amazing number of midges on a summer night, somethiing like 3000 each. That means less scratching for us!!!! And the myth that they get caught in your hair is just that, a myth. They have a sophisticated radar system and only collide with us if we go rushing around and get in their way. Like so many of our native wildlife, we dont realise how beneficial they are until they are gone.

If it's any consolation I never found any nests or traces of old ones in our ivy. If I had suspected that birds were nesting then I would certainly have been more cautious before/while trimming/removing it. But I have never looked back having removed the ivy from our back garden wall. Awful stuff. Don't know why I ever planted it in the first place...