From Aversion to Acceptance - how I learned to love poison ivy

 "In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous." ~ Aristotle

I took a long walk around our property this weekend and marveled at the beauty of all of the luscious green poison ivy.

I had a bad run-in with the weed years ago, back when we first bought our little plot of land. The rash and the accompanying welts were horrible and from that day forward, I had waged a fruitless battle against the villain that had caused me so much agony.

I am a "green" gardener. I try my best not to harm the planet in any way. In most aspects of my gardening, I avoid harsh chemicals at all costs.

My deep love of the natural world, in fact, makes me appreciate, admire, and want to protect almost every bit of living matter in the world, regardless of its inherent admirable qualities or lack, thereof.

But the poison ivy was the exception. I not only bought herbicides, but I bought the full strength, super-noxious concoctions that were said to kill even the toughest weeds – including the much-maligned poison ivy. I would cover my body in long pants and sleeves and head out, spraying the chemical compounds on the bright green leaves, wishing death upon them.

My attempts were mostly futile. The beautiful green plant thrived and continued its journey up my trees and across the back edges of our land.

My whole relationship with poison ivy was causing me personal angst:  My fear and loathing of it;  The fact that it had encouraged me to go against my personal beliefs and spray poisons on the planet; and the  sense of defeat that I always felt when it continued to thrive despite my best efforts to control it.

But two things occurred this weekend that made me change my mind about this pervasive plant.

The first was a visit from my young friend Jaden. Jaden is the grandson of a friend of mine, and when he comes to visit, his dad sits and visits with my husband and Jaden and I go out to explore the natural world around our property. We had been walking through the grassy area of our yard for only a few moments, headed toward the tadpole pond, when Jaden said, “My legs already itch from the poison ivy.”

Now the thing is, there is no poison ivy anywhere near where we were walking. The poison ivy is only at the far edges of our piece of land and we were nowhere near it. But I had put the thought of poison ivy into Jaden’s head on a previous visit, when we were out walking in that area, and I had made this self-proclaimed “nature boy”  think negative thoughts about being outside in nature.

But the other thing that occurred this weekend that made me decide to change my mind about poison ivy was a wonderful op-ed piece I read in the online edition of the LaTimes called Poison Ivy: Everything You Need to Know and More, by Pulitzer-Prize winning science writer, Deborah Blum.

It’s a beautifully written article, and I encourage anyone who enjoys good prose to read the whole piece. But here are some highlights that helped to change my mind about poison ivy:

And poison oak and ivy — if one can manage objectivity — really are ornamental and startlingly pretty, especially when they unfurl crimson leaves in the spring or blaze into fiery copper in autumn. In fact — and this is confirmed by the website at Monticello — President Thomas Jefferson once ordered poison ivy as a decorative vine for the garden of his beloved Virginia home…. 

The plants' ability to be everywhere makes them a dependable meal for species ranging from insects to deer. Poison ivy vines produce tiny greenish-white flowers and silvery winter berries. Wild bees feed on poison ivy flowers, and no, the honey is not toxic. Wild birds depend on those waxy berries in the winter — among the varieties known to feed on them are woodpeckers and warblers, wrens and robins, blue birds, sapsuckers and, I mention this one because I love the name, the tufted titmouse.

Blum does go on to list some of the negative aspects of this pervasive plant, including the news that scientists predict that it may become more toxic as it adapts to climate change.

But her description of the beauty of the plant was enough to help me change my mind. Suddenly, my strong desire to eliminate this species from our property seemed as ridiculous as wanting to wipe out all the bees and yellow jackets (which are such important pollinators ), all the mosquitoes (which feed the birds and dragonflies and bats) or even all the roses (that help to feed my soul), because they have sometimes caused me pain.

So I decided to give poison ivy another chance. I took my little garden stool outside and sat near a thriving little patch and I just looked at its deep green foliage and its strange hairy roots. I kept my distance. I didn’t tempt fate. But my fear and loathing gradually disappeared and were replaced with a guarded appreciation of the plant. I’ve decided to let it stay.

Oh, I’ll give it the same wide berth that I give snakes and yellow jackets when I see them, but I already feel better about my change in attitude. I’ll have one less toxic chemical in my yard and one more beautiful, wildlife-feeding  plant. It seems like a win-win situation.

**Note: poison ivy can certainly cause a lot of miserable anguish. If you have it on your property in an area that does not allow you to avoid and appreciate it, see my previous post Tips for Dealing With Poison Ivy in the Winter Garden.

If you decide, like me, to give up your herbicides, here’s a post that will help you find a site for proper disposal.

Are you itching to get out into your garden? Watch out for poison ivy!

Since I’ve been itching to get out into my garden this winter, I decided to spend some time a few weekends ago pulling out vines and digging up plants along the edges of my property that were little more than dead-looking, leafless stalks and vines.

My body was completely covered, with long pants, socks, shoes, a long sleeved jacket and gloves. And still, I developed a rash that is most definitely poison ivy. Since I have had some pretty bad outbreaks of poison ivy induced rashes at various times of my life, I feel fortunate that this time I only have a small, ½” rash that developed in an area that must have gotten exposed in between my long sleeves and my gloves. But as anyone who has ever gotten into poison ivy knows, that little rash itches enough to cause all kinds of misery.

So the lesson learned is, you CAN get poison ivy in the winter.

Poison ivy is fairly easy to identify when it is displaying its beautiful “leaves of three”. The Virginia Cooperative Extension provides this description:

Poison ivy can grow as a groundcover or small bush in woods, fields, at the edges of openings and trails, and pretty much everywhere else. Poison ivy also grows as a vine that climbs on trees, barns, and fences for support. The vine has small aerial roots along the stem that make it look like a fuzzy rope and often has much longer aerial roots as well. Because the plant grows in so many different forms, its leaflets are the best way to identify poison ivy. The leaflets grow in clusters of three. Hence the old saying "leaves of three, let it be." These leaflets are from two to four inches long with pointed tips. The middle leaflet is usually larger than the others. The edges of the leaflets don't always look the same. They might be smooth, or they could have teeth. The leaflet surface can be many different shades of green and appear glossy, dull, or in between.

But since poison ivy is a deciduous plant, it loses its leaves in the winter, making it very difficult to identify. As the leaves turn yellow, orange and red in the autumn, they begin to drop and may no longer be “leaves of three”. And of course, in the winter, they fall off completely, resulting in nothing but bare sticks and vines.

Unfortunately, these dormant, leafless poison ivy plants still contain the irritating oil, urushiol, which can cause the insufferable rash. In fact even dead poison ivy plants may cause an allergic reaction for several years.

What Causes the Rash?

All parts of the poison ivy plant, including the roots, stems, bark, and leaflets, are poisonous year round. The blistering rash people get is caused by an oily toxin known as urushiol. The most common way this toxin gets on your skin is when you touch the plant, especially one that has been damaged in some way, such as being stepped on or run over with the lawnmower. The toxin is oily and sticky, and is easily spread around when you touch other parts of your body. For example, if you are weeding a flower bed and pull up some poison ivy, then wipe your face later on, the chances are pretty good that a rash will develop on your face. You also can contract the rash by picking up the toxins from animals, clothes, or other items that have been in contact with poison ivy. And, if poison ivy is burned in a brush pile, the resulting smoke carries the toxins. It is very important that you avoid breathing the smoke of burning wood or brush if poison ivy might be part of the pile.

Poison ivy grows fairly quickly and spreads by underground rhizomes. Other plants are started by birds and small animals which love the berries and quickly spread the seeds.

Poison ivy can be tackled (I have yet to see any real evidence in our heavily wooded yard that it can be completely eliminated) by either hand pulling and digging or by spraying the foliage with non-selective herbicide. Since there is no foliage on the plants in the winter, herbicides are not a winter option. However, if you have already identified poison ivy in your landscape during the warmer months, winter can be a good time to remove some of the plants by digging and hand-pulling because the plants are more dangerous in the spring and summer when the oil content is the highest.

Before removing any plants that could possibly be poison ivy, consider these Facts and Tips:

1) Dormant or dead poison ivy is very difficult to identify. You can sometimes identify the larger vines by the hair-like roots growing from the vines.

2) You can develop a severe allergic reaction to poison ivy even if the plants are dormant or dead.

3) The oil from poison ivy plants can make its way through thin layers of clothing, especially if you are sweating while you work.

4) Wash your hands with soap and cool water immediately after touching anything that is suspected of being poison ivy. Warm water may cause the resin to penetrate the skin faster.

5) If burned, the oils in the smoke can cause severe allergic reactions.

6) The oil from poison ivy can be picked up on tools, clothing and the fur of pets and later transferred to your skin. Anything that may be carrying the oil should be thoroughly washed.

7) Always wear long sleeves, long pants, shoes, socks and gloves when handling poison ivy. Launder the clothing separately from the family laundry and wash your hands after placing the clothes in the washer.

8) Heavy growths of poison ivy should never be removed by hand because of the obvious hazard. When leaves are present, spray them with a non-selective herbicide or poison ivy killer. Use these with care to protect other plants from being harmed by the spray.

9) Control with chemicals is most effective during active growth especially in early to mid summer. The chemicals are most efficiently absorbed and translocated through the leaves of the plant at these times.

10) However, winter is a good time to sever poison ivy vines at ground level and paint the severed edge with a suitable herbicide.

11) Be careful not to bring firewood into the house with poison ivy vines attached.

12) Contact your local Extension agent for more information on preparing herbicide mixtures and applying them safely; and always be sure to follow the directions on the product label.

Sources:

Poison Ivy: Leaves of Three, Let it Be! – Virginia Cooperative Extension

Poison Ivy(pdf file) – Maryland Cooperative Extension

Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac Information Center

Outsmarting Poison Ivy

Photos courtesy of http://www.poison-ivy.org/

Toxicodendron radicans– Wikipedia entry with good photos

Winter Weeds: Poison Ivy - a blog post with photos of poison ivy in the winter