Ivy

Mike talked me into re-creating the ivy wall at Wrigley field by using our cement retaining wall in the backyard.  So we did some research.  The ivy at Wrigley field is Boston Ivy.   Mike tried to order some online but everywhere we looked it was unavailable.  I don't know if this was because it was too early to plant, too late to plant or just too popular but either way we couldn't find it.  Mike and Laura decided to use the computer to see if we could buy some in St. Louis but even though they checked the big building supply stores like Home Depot and Lowes as well as the local nurseries they could not find any.  So we bought English Ivy instead.

The ivy in Wrigley field was first planted in 1937.  It was the brainchild of former Cubs president Bill Veeck and approved by the owner Mr. Wrigley.  Like many great ideas the idea of an ivy wall was not original to Bill.  He had seen ivy walls at two minor league parks, one in Indianapolis and one in Pasadena California.  And now we are copying his ivy wall.

A local Chicago nursery, F. D. Clavey Ravina, provided the ivy to the Cubs.  Supposedly a vine ivy plant called bittersweet was strung from the top of the wall to the bottom and then the Boston ivy was planted at the base.  In our case, we are just going to try planting ivy as close to the base of the wall as possible and hope it grows upwards.

I don't know what the ivy wall looked like when it was planted in September 1937 but ours is going to take at least three years to fill in at least according to our local gardening expert and friend, Donna Walker.  She says growth is very slow for the first two years and then it takes off.

The seven man ground crew at Wrigley fields manually maintains the ivy wall.  It takes them eight hours to trim the ivy back from the top of the wall and around the outfield doors, distance makers and advertising logos.  They also tuck any loose vines back in close to the wall to keep the ivy as tight as possible (which also explains why balls can get lost in that ivy).  If they didn't do this they claim the distance markers would be covered within 10 days.  Looks like Mike, my maintenance man, is going to have is work cut out for him.  Especially if he manages to convince one of the girls to paint some distance markers on our wall.

Flickr photo of Wrigley field