Invasive English Ivy

Hello! We bought a home recently in NC piedmont triad area (zone 7) where a previous owner thought it was a good idea to plant some English Ivy as a ground cover. It's become a nightmare. While it is out-competing the poison ivy, it is climbing up our maple trees and taking over the rose hip plants. We have tried cutting the ivy around one of the trees to kill it last fall, but the ivy is still green. It is all over the ground as well. Any thoughts of the best way to remove and replace with a native ground cover? Any suggestions of a replacement ground cover that will out compete ivy in both a shaded and sunny area?

Thank you friends! This is my first post, so excited to be in the community.

Hi Cara and welcome to Permies! Glad to have you here!
English Ivy is some crazy stuff, especially if it gets onto the trees. I've only ever dealt with extensively spreading but small vines. Hand pulling worked pretty well for me. They make lovely basket weaving material. If your vines are more serious and seem resistant to just pulling, you might check out this thread: War against English Ivy

Oh basket weaving is a great idea! Thanks for the link!

I was the OP on the War against English Ivy, and we basically ended up pulling everything by hand. It was a huge chore. My neighbor had a much smaller patch removed by lawn care pros that said the best way for them was to mow down and cover with 8-12" of mulch and pull the few that manage to come through. I wonder if you could get the same benefit from mowing and laying down several layers of a landscape fabric and leaving alone for a year or 3. I don't know any groundcover that can outcompete the ivy, but I wish you the best of luck! I'm still pulling the few that survived, I really want to save my 100yr old lilac.