new subject - ivy
- To: s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
- Subject: new subject - ivy
- From: C* P* <E*@AOL.COM>
- Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 22:30:40 EST
I have been collecting ivies recently and they are happy in the shade. There
are many sizes,shapes and variegations in leaves. The Canary Island ivy has
huge leaves plus a variegated form. These plants are not show stoppers but
they are the "drapers" of containers and the underplanting of leggy shrubs.
Indoors they love a cool place and can take a bit of frost.
In my zone 4 location, I have an ordinary green ivy growing in a warm
protected corner of my house foundation. Every year that it survives I am
amazed. The base of this plant now has woody stems one inch thick.
That brings me to the question. Ivies eventually grow horizontally, bloom and
form berries. It is written (lately the Rose UK monograph on ivy) that a
cutting taken from the second stage of growth will form a tree, not a vine.
This premise interests me as I have never seen such a tree (here it would
certainly be potted) nor have I seen such a plant offered.
In our southern states the many beautiful forms of hedera helix would be fine
ground covers. I do not recall any mention of ivy in the ground cover
discussion.
Claire Peplowski
East Nassau, NY
zone 4
