Creeping vine makes for a pushy neighbor

Q: My neighbor doesn’t keep their vines in check and they are growing through the spaces in the block wall. What can I spray on them to kill the end of the vines so they won’t grow any further? When the vines grow, their stems enlarge, making the spaces bigger. Please help. — J.N., Albuquerque

A: Don’t you just dislike pushy vines?

I’m going to implore you to not start a range war over this. You use the word neighbor in your question, meaning, to me, that you have a relationship with them. I’m hoping it’s a good one. If so, keeping your cool, ask if you could have access to the vines on their side and cut the vines that are working into the block wall. Perhaps your neighbors don’t realize the sort of damage the vines are creating . Maybe the neighbors are unable to do the physical work, so you’re offering to assist could mean the world to them.

Breathe and approach the neighbors with absolute politeness first. If that doesn’t work, you have a bit of work ahead of you.

First, I’d pull on each offending vine, trying to get longer pieces. Snip them off as deep as you can between the blocks.

Next, consider a spraying, on your side only (sort of filling the gap) with a ready-to-use herbicide into the gaps between the block where the grout have been pushed out. Again, not wanting to encourage a range-war, your goal is to spray some, just enough to dampen the snipped ends of the encroaching vine. The herbicide won’t be remarkably effective this time of year since the vines are shutting down for the dormant months but sprayed now they just might absorb enough and die back.

I’ll suggest you fill the gaps with grout (any home center would be able to guide you). Trowel it into the gaps so the vine hopefully gets discouraged. I will also caution you to watch the ground where the wall meets the ground and nip any young intruders as quickly as you can.

Have an adult conversation first, but know there is a way, abet a lot of work, to dissuade the vines from continuing their damaging ways. Here’s to a neighborly solution to this problem.

Q: We have decided to put in a small pond soon, having it ready to enjoy next spring. Our trouble is we have a large planting of iris right smack-dab in the middle of the space we’re going to use. Can we quickly move the iris group now and have them stay healthy? — P.E., Albuquerque

A: The quicker you can do the moving project, the better off the iris will be.

Have the space you’re going to move them to already prepped before you dig them up. When moving the soil in the new area, consider adding some compost and either some bone meal or granular super phosphate to the area. Be on guard, looking for any big rocks and get them out of the way so the iris root in nicely.

If you wanted, you could uproot the whole clump and create a crater to plop the whole grouping back in the ground.

If you decide to separate and tidy the iris rhizomes now, considering the time of year you just might upset the timing of next year’s bloom, but saving the grouping will be best in the long run.

So, go for it and do this project now. The sooner, the better, knowing the iris can and will regroup in their new home.

Happy Diggin’ In!

Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, 7777 Jefferson St. NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.