Question From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Q: Our English Ivy froze with the harsh winter in Pittsburgh, PA. The entire side of our back yard is covered with the ivy under a row of pine trees and also, it cascades over a retaining wall on our patio. I raked out the brown leaves leaving us with long leafless vines. It is now the middle of June (2014) and the ivy is slowly getting green leaves in spots including the retaining wall ivy but mostly on the side of the yard. However most of the retaining wall is still long vines that do not appear to have any green when we scratch the vines. Are these vines dead and should they be cut and if so, should we cut now or wait awhile longer? They really are unsightly but we loved the ivy covering the wall! Help!
A: Lesley, Start to cut it back. It should show green by now. Make sure to keep what is left well watered and it will come back. I'd give it a foliar feed of Neptune's Harvest Fish and Seaweed fertilizer every couple of weeks. Our national garden writers Assoc. is having it's annual meeting in Pittsburgh this August. Looking forward to touring the Phipps. Best And Happy Yardening, Nancy
