The difficult thing about Poison Ivy is that it can take on many different forms. In the early spring it is very easy to identify it. That is the best time to see the three shiny reddish leaves beginning to form. Here is a typical established plant with the tell tale three leaves. If you look closely you can see that the leaves are all smooth around the edges.
In this photo this specimen has irregular edges on some of the leaves. This is also Poison Ivy.
Poison Ivy likes to blend into the landscape and hide among other plants.
I found it in several different plant groupings throughout our woods. It can grow as a vine up a tree or as a shrub, which can make it hard to identify.
I find by going out first thing in the spring gives me a head start on eradicating it. Often that's all it takes around here, unless we have a wet summer as we did this year. I am still finding it in my gardens all over the yard.
I happened upon this grouping of Clubmoss, Canada Mayflower, and Poison Ivy. It sure does look like they are all quite chummy!!
For information and pictures on Poison Sumac, check out the Clueless Gardeners recent post on the subject.
2 comments:
I totally have to try the Ivy Block you mention.
Ahh, poison ivy, the nemisis I so hate and love. If you want to spare your yard the poisons, try this: wait until the leaves are just falling off this autumn, or wait until the leaves are gone. Then use rubber-bands to put plastic bags up your arms, and wear at least two layers of latex gloves, or a combination of latex gloves and garden gloves. then you can pull up the roots.
The roots have a distinctive feel - they are shallow, hairy, and come up easily. Once you have ripped up a few, it gets to the point that you can identify them by feel, making cold-weather removal possible. And it's a lot safer to remove them in cold weather. I find this is the best way to begin eradication of dense patches of poison ivy. For smaller incursions and for subsequent clean-up where large patches used to be, I often just use a plastic bag over each hand.
I do avoid any major poison-ivy removal in the spring, however, because the leaves have the most oil on them at that point. I also avoid doing it on hot days, because sweat seems to spread the oils around.
Thanks for the plug for my blog! :)
Michelle, thanks so much for the info. I had totally forgotten that I had done this many, many years ago, when we were first here. This is the first year that we have had such a bad infestation, probably due to all the rain. I should have known something was up by the overabundance of Jewelweed, Touch-me-not, that came up all over here this year!! It is the antidote plant to poison ivy. The juices counteract the rash! I just made a note to remember to get to it this fall!!!!! Thanks again.
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