Found in my garden close to the side of my house. I cannot tell if it is in the poisonous family.

Ivy (Hedera)

to ATP Aebel08

Okay so it is just ivy, not poisonous? And thank you very much.

Hedera (ivy) is poisonous to some extent, as are a lot of plants. It's not the same as poison ivy though.

Don't eat it and you will be fine. If you get into enough of it, it may irritate your skin but probably will only make you sneeze.

Here in Seattle, this is an invasive plant. Once established, it grows tendrils out about 12 feet in all directions each year. In other places it is a nicer plant! I hate ivy. It pulled down our fence.

It is a real thug here in Texas too.

And if it blooms, which our neighbors hedge is doing right now, the birds will scatter the seeds everywhere.

I had a little plant show up in my yard in California one time. It was so pretty, I let it grow. Within a couple years, it was 50 ft. x 50 ft. and had eaten an entire Oak tree.

I put on my boots, gloves and long sleeved shirt and got out the shovel. Man, what a job! I was happy for the boots and gloves by the time I dug up my 3rd rattlesnake. And I chased rats all over the yard, probably why the snakes were there.

Daisy

Its ivy Burn it!!! Yard waste ...whatever you want! Dont compost it!

Badcat, so how do you really feel about the ivy! Lol. I laugh because I am totally with you!! It really is invasive, and it's just about killed a tree with it's glue-like tendrils, and also started crawling up a structure at my relatives place. I have no idea how to completely remove the woody part, because we are arriving late in the game. This spring, ivy is my nemesis.

I love ivy, it's one of the best plants you can grow for wildlife.

Perhaps your ivy is better behaved than the colonial variety - like the people also?

Probably not, it can be a nuisance growing on walls or in trees I grant you, but that doesn't detract from its uses and values as a plant when grown in a good spot.

It took me a full month, 8 hours a day most days, to eliminate the ivy growing along the 240' rear line and on the spruces. I'm so glad it didn't return.

I suspect Sue doesn't have to worry about being bitten by a snake in the ivy.

I like ivy and I'm trying to get it to grow on a block wall on the side of my house. So far, it wants to crawl across the garden, not up the wall. I am trying to focus its attention back to the wall - if that doesn't work, its still small. One mighty YANK and it will be gone!

Daisy

kniphofia said:I love Ivy, it's one of the best plants you can grow for wildlife.

I agree with Sue.
I love Ivy for the reason that it blooms so late in the season, when little else blooms that it is a great late food source for bees, hoverflies and many other insects.
My birds love it for nesting and profit from the berries in the winter and the many insects living in it.
Nearly my entire walls enclosing my garden are covered with Ivy, it stays green all winter. Yes, I do have work with it trimming about twice a year, but all the benefits are making that more than worthwhile.