I've applied roundup with good effect - the poison ivy leaves all curled up leaving the other stuff alive. After pulling out the dead poison ivy, what I'm left with is a denuded hill with very little growth on it. Now, I wasn't able to pull out all the poison ivy roots so I'm afraid the ivy will return if the roots start to sprout leaves that start collecting sunlight.

My question is: should I plant something like english ivy in the space where I've removed the poison ivy? Is there a better groundcover that I could use given that I really want to outcompete the poison ivy? Also, that particular hill gets a good amount of sun in the late afternoon so I'd want something that was very much sun-loving, but not only for drought conditions as we are on the east coast. Finally, when would it be the best time to plant over the poison ivy areas?

I recognize that that is a tall order and I've read _so_ many posts about how difficult it is to eradicate so I'm definitely prepared to be out there for a few years with roundup and/or hand weeding.

Thanks a bunch for your help!

I would not plant english ivy there. If you thought the poison ivy was hard to get rid of, you obviously haven't tried to get rid of established english ivy (plus it is considered an exotic invasive in some areas).

The best way to manage new poison ivy sprouts is to have a fairly open area so you can see when new plants sprout and then just pluck them out (wearing gloves with with a plastic bag over your hand). I would not plant a dense ground cover.

Consider a nice mix of low growing shrubs or small trees to help hold the soil (prevent erosion since it is a hill). You would really have tons of choices.

Best time to plant anything would be the fall so that you don't have to hover over it with a hose all summer. You could cover the area with mulch/pine straw in the meantime to keep it looking tidy.