great points!
turtle, my mention of Ivy was intended for indoor use, i totally agree how bad it can be. actually all the plants i mentioned were aimed at around the house ornamental.
and really good points on native species...ideally thats the way to go, but not always the easiest (and people do like easy)
here is a picture of one of many large douglas fir trees at my grandmothers house in BC canada. the ivy there are about 9" in diameter and go 100+ feet up. its also about 60 years old (the ivy, not the doug. firs). i used to climb up it as a kid. about 30 trees in total like this, but over the years they have been getting people to kill it.
