Learn to love it. It’s not going anywhere without multiple flamethrowers and gasoline.

Yard, can you repost for her the detailed guidelines you once posted about managing ivy? I agree it will be a battle to defeat it - as well as replace it- but you can live with it snd even appreciate its merits.

It looks like you have English Ivy and Algerian Ivy. In my experience it is more difficult to remove the Algerian. For both the remedy is digging. Dig out as much of the roots as you can. Wait a month and check for new growth. You will always have missed some. I'd say it took me about three years to get rid of the Algerian Ivy. It is still growing in my neighbor's yard so I have to trim when it pushes through the fence.

The English Ivy was easier to remove. I like it so I still have some in a different area. Wear gloves when working on both types of Ivy. The leaves are not a problem but the stems gave me itchy blisters.

In the first picture you posted I think the bed on the right is attractive. Why do you want to remove it?

Swapping it out? That sounds so easy. But it’s not easy at all. Probably darn near impossible without $$$$ and several years’ time.

It took a backhoe and total demolition of my garden to eliminate ivy. It was expensive!

Thank you all so much for your comments! Sounds like the consensus is learn to live with it. I do like the look of it, but I was told that ivy can kill other plants and trees. Is the trick just to keep trimming it back so it doesn't choke the other plants? Or do the roots choke them? I will keep them if all I need to do is just keep an eye on it and trim it every once in a while. =]

I have English ivy on the North and Northeast parts of my yard. It hasn't killed any trees or bushes yet and I started planting it about 20 years ago. I do prune it a few times in Summer to keep it from climbing the brick walls, because I found that after a certain height, it can interfere with the windows and soffits. About once a year I prune back anything that is climbing my lilac or other shrubs on the north side. This is a minor issue. But other than that, it makes a very nice ground cover.

" ... but I was told that ivy can kill other plants and trees." That is the problem ... massive amounts of over-generalizing coming from those who lack the skill of managing it. I'm not saying that it requires no attention, but that it is manageable and fairly easily so once one gets some understanding of it. Here's a detailed thread about managing it. The main thing it will kill if left unattended is fences and walls. It's usually best to keep it off of these unless you have a fence that is created expressly for the use of ivy to climb it. I notice you have it in a chain link fence. If you want it there, you can trim it the same as you would trim a hedge. If you don't trim it, it will get bulky. It looks to me like you have lots of other things that need tending.

We just got the house and haven't even moved in yet. I was hoping to get some feedback about the yard so I didn't have to hire a gardener. But I may need to have one over to teach me how to take care of this gorgeous area. We've never had actual plants before, aside from a weed filled lawn.

There will be a learning curve on the maintenance, but not too bad. I suggest you do an overall assessment from a design standpoint, area by area, to make sure that what's present will fulfill your needs as it progresses. There is no point in cultivating anything that will end up being unsuitable when it reaches fruition. Start a new thread for whatever general area you want to appraise and deal with each on a case by case basis. Based on the above photos, some areas may be cluttered, which, just like in a house, makes them harder to maintain. When you include photos, have them be panoramic scenes. For small areas, the pano feature of the camera will work. But for large areas, it's better to stand at one spot and take slightly overlapping individual photos until the scene is complete. (Using the pano feature shrinks and distorts large areas too much to be useful on the forum.)

@Holly Gray In my last property I got rid of a 30' x 50' patch of Algerian Ivy and replaced it with lawn. It was totally worth it. It took me about a month of working at it part-time. I needed a pick ax to yank out the roots. It was great exercise and the result was very satisfying. It is a pain, but it's definitely doable. Just got to dig out those roots! I think mint is far worse!