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Tidying an ivy screen

graigrai Posts: 78
edited April 2023 in Plants
Hi everyone

 I put a potato Vine in a pot about four years ago to screen off my boring neighbors

 it died so I planted ivy cuttings to grow up the branches of the dead potato vine which have now screened off the neighbors but are such a tangle they're actually a bit of a mess

Would it be possible to prune them in some way to make them less of a shapeless lump?

I have a feeling I would have to start again cutting them right back and then training them over four years again
which I'm not going to do

I'd rather just leave it as it is

But if there's a technique of taking out certain parts that anyone can tell me about I'd be very grateful!

Thanks 🙏

P.S.
slightly off topic but have they over the complicated this website since I was last on?

It took me about five goes to try and sign in😡

 it's very difficult to use and feels massively over designed now

 I couldn't get this post because they were saying there was an "invalid title" without explaining what a valid title was
Moan over 😩

Posts

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited April 2023
    @grai The problem is Ivy needs a flat surface to cling to rather than stems. That is why it is moving about it hasn't fixed to anything. It has obviously formed a good root system which it needs to establish before it starts to climb but now, no where to go.
    If you start again you will get the same happen again. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It's hard to tell from the photo but - if you shove some canes or an obelisk of some kind in, you can treat it as topiary, and either take shears to it or a hedge trimmer, and shape it into a cone or similar.

    The site was updated several years ago, but it shouldn't be difficult to sign in if you're using the same name. I never bother to sign out.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Yes agree @grai You could twist it around some canes[you should use some cane toppers for safety] Then you can trim as necessary.

     @Fairygirl I have seen this done on huge posts.It was at Fibrex Nurseries a poly tunnel full of them. Very old, just to be sent off to Chelsea but they 'did the rounds' of all the big flower shows as back drops.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    As said, ivy for a sceeen needs a wall or fence on which to root.  It can then be pruned to stay flat.  Walk around your neighbourhood and look for examples.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Yes @GardenerSuze - there's various ways of training/pruning it, and it's very easy to do. If the pot's big enough, a bit of trellis would give a wider, flatter surface for it grow, and it would be more of a screen, rather than an upright specimen. 
    Just depends on preference, size of container, and how much experimenting you fancy doing @grai :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • graigrai Posts: 78
    thanks everyone!
    It's a second floor balcony which is why it's growing up wires once it got beyond the first canes because of the wind

    but I'll definitely experiment with some kind of trelliss
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