Ivy: A Love/Hate Relationship

Ivy is one of my favorite accent plants. If you can keep it alive, I think it's beautiful indoors. Outside I've always loved it as ground cover or in trees and especially in topiaries. However...I hate it along the walls of a house unless it is perfectly manicured and in good taste. The Hubby, who is in charge of trimming the shrubs, cutting grass and watering everything I plant (I love to plant everything but tend to get side-tracked when it comes to the watering part. Funny how that accidentally happens) Oh, as I was saying, he actually liked the ivy that decided to start growing up along our front door. Now there are not many things in the garden/landscape that he feels strongly about. I finally got him over the trauma of "yes you have to rip out the summer or fall flowers, even if they are somewhat still blooming, so we can plant new seasonal flowers" That was a very big deal for several years. So when he adamantely opposed me pulling it down, I knew it was one of those battles to "pick"...or not pick in this sitch.

But then there are all kinds of little blessings in life...like when the ivy starts to turn yellow and die all of a sudden. And no, I didn't put anything on it or kill it in any way. Although Hubby did ask me 3x and make me pinky swear.

So this weekend as I was repotting all our window boxes, I got the sudden urge joy of pulling it down. There's only one problem. It left ugly ivy poop behind, seen here:

You can see the trail it was taking, not pretty alive or dead really.

from afar so you get the big picture...and Jackson & Stella at their post

And a close-up of the ivy poop

So does ANYONE know how to get it off? It's on brick so it's in all the crevices. I thought about sanding it but then was concerned it would take off part of the paint. I don't have a sample of this ugly oh-so-lovely green color and I'd rather not spend the time or $$ repainting the entire house (or would I? it would give me an excuse and the Hubby couldn't complain argue too much). Call me crazy but painting my house 6 months pregnant in the dead of Columbia summer is not my idea of fun. And I'm too cheap to pay someone the $1,000's of greens it would cost.

HELP! I plan on scouring the stores and internet this week to figure it out but if you have a suggestion, please let me know!!! Proven solutions are always better than experimenting. I'll post the "how to" on ivy poop once I figure it out.

I will beat you ivy...you can't stick to my house forever.

Oh and for those wondering, yes it was a little upsetting to Hubby when he learned I had pulled it all down. Insert #4: "and you promise you didn't kill it on purpose?"