"Heck, there's only about 3 feet of ground between my friend's house and the asphalt parking lot of the building backing up to her house."
THAT being the 3 feet where the ivy is.
AND - although I don't have frogs or toads at my own house, I DO have deer, racoons, groundhogs, and wild turkeys, thanks to a finger of woods no wider than a city street running behind my house, thanks to the hillyness here. I live near a BIG drop off, too steep to build on, at least in 1920, so there are woods. And in 1920, they LEFT a finger between the newly built city streets.
SO I wish to help HEAL rather than do harm..