Question
Hey
I have nice ivy in my frount yard.
I live in Illinois so it gets cold. My kids walk in the ivy alot. One of the sections has died compleatly. It is just starting tocome back a little bit. The rest is fine but o see the one section may be dying now. Is it because they are walking in it? What could I do to get it to grow back strong?? And is it the people walking thru it that kills it?
Thanks

Answer
If foot traffic caused the ivy to die, I imagine that you would have seen the decline as small patches (footprints) at first. These individual patches would have grown larger as the individual runners died towards the growing tip (not towards the root). A live bud below the damaged part will then be stimulated to continue the growth of the vine. Again, this bud will be behind the dead portion and towards the root.
So, if you examine a few of the dead/dying vines to find out that all of this is happening, you can then rest easy; the vines are recovering from whatever caused them to die. You can help the process by cutting off and removing the dead portions and, if you feel cofident to do it, you can apply a liquid fertilizer to accelerate the whole process.
Please observe all the label directions, but especially the dosage rate and the best season to apply the product.
I think that your ground cover is recovering.