I jhave never found starw a good ground cover since it harbours critters and breaks down and stinks when doing so. I love vinca for a ground cover with shrubs and trees but not sure if it works where you live since you do not tell us that.

Ivy seems like a reasonable ground cover. Why tear it out? You can still have shrubs planted in the beds.

You can't tell from the pics but the ivy isn't very clean & we just don't like it. You can't really walk through it because you can't see what's under it. I've never had pine straw stink as ages & I've been around it a lot. I've thought about maybe grouping some hydrangeas in the area. I'm in the Atlanta suburbs.

Small manageable bushes would be great! We need more in our landscaping to give our much needs bugs a place to live. Ivy doesn’t really host benefiting insects. Azaleas would look lovely and give bugs a great home along with the colors they will bring in.

Removing ivy will be a multi-year project. That stuff is tenacious!

Since you're probably dealing with acid soil (pines tend to prefer it), consider a selection of rhodos, azaleas, kalmia, heather, heath, pieris and leucothoe. These plants are all fairly low maintenance, put on a fantastic spring show and some are even evergreen. Add in some dwarf conifers for a different texture. Think about the general shape of each plant. You want a selection of tall and small, thin and round, smooth and rough... etc. You may want some tasteful garden art or a bench as well.

Depending on soil, zone and amount of work you want to do, a mixed perennial border along the path from the driveway to the front door might be nice. Things like daylilies, rudbeckia, lychnis, monarda and heliotrope will provide a terrific habitat for birds and bees and make sitting in your front window or on the front step very pleasurable.

What I've observed about english ivy here (east coast), is that if it crawls up a tree or post and blooms, the blooms are heavily attended by flying bugs. But if it's confined to the ground it doesn't bloom, so no pollinators benefit. There might be other 'good guys' using it for cover, both on the ground and up trees or poles, but given the choice I'd get rid of it.

In such an extensive area and with the trees, would it make sense to attack it in stages. Select a five foot square area, clip and pull as much ivy as you can (chemicals don't do much against ivy). Mulch heavily. Next season, pull any more ivy shoots and replant with something else. Move to the next five foot square area, clip and pull, etc. Just a possible approach.

Good thing it isn't growing up and swamping your trees.

Mountain laurel is lovely. Add in some azaleas and rhodos for color all summer.

It seems very clear that some of the above comments come from those who have never had to remove a similar expansive spread of well-established ivy :-) I believe there is some serious underestimating of the work and time involved.

Note: any scrap of root left in contact with the ground will take root and start to grow. And it is also true that ivy does not respond well to herbicides. But if you paint the cutback stems immediately with undiluted herbicide like glyphosate or triclopyr, that can be moderately effective.

Placing a couple layers of cardboard under the mulch will also help.

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"Placing a couple layers of cardboard under the mulch will also help."

I wish that were true!! It is almost impossible to smother ivy roots. They will just wait until the cardboard breaks down and then grow right up through any mulch. I have seem them grow through landscape weed fabric from beneath the fabric....it is almost NO deterrent. In one situation I consulted on, they had covered the area with a heavy duty plastic tarp. The ivy roots just grew laterally under the tarp until they emerged from under its edges, greatly expanding the territory it claimed.

Thanks for the comments. I'm in the industry & have removed ivy before so that's not an issue.

This looks to be a winter shot but a nice idea for the hillside with some terracing.

View from the Front · More Info

Ivy, IMO, is a much better alternative than mulch. Stays green all year and does not need to be replaced every season. Work with it, trim it, edge it....

Ivy is terrible. Get rid of it. I would consider building a short retaining wall to create a large level surface. Get a dump truck of compost delivered to fill it. Just make sure the tree roots aren't appreciably deeply covered. I don't know any plants that would prefer growing on a hill instead of a flat surface. And you'll have great soil.

I would take pictures, note direction, sun, shade, etc. and take all that to a local nursery for help. Not a big box store but a local plant nursery. Or I'd do what I have done in the past and schedule a consultation with a landscape architect. I'm a huge fan of getting rid of the ivy and I have done that. It is hard to do. Off the top of my head I'd put azaleas there and be done but a local landscape architect would have much better ideas.