Re: [SG] new subject - ivy

Claire,

I, too, am a fan of ivy.  Guess I've got about 20 different cultivars in
the ground or in pots waiting to go in the ground.  A good deal of ground,
as well as many old trees and a couple sides of my house are covered in it.
 My local deer herd appreciates this, as they are also fans of Hedera helix
cv....esp. in winter.  In most cases, any deer damage or winter burn is
self-corrected during the next growing season; if it gets on my nerves, I
just whack it off.

Ivy, in my part of the country, makes  a very good ground cover, except
that it does allow woody seedlings, including poison ivy, to get into it
and requires a certain amount of maintenance that way.  I have found that
daffodils do well planted with an ivy cover - have a fairly large area
where the bulbs naturalize in ivy....these are the fairly common, old tried
and true daffs, not anything special.  You do have to watch it around
shrubs and perennials because it can choke them if left to its own
devices...I have to go in every few years and get it out of a stand of
mature Azaleas or it grows right up the stems and branches.  It's great on
very steep banks where nothing else does well and it's impossible to mow.

I find that it takes about three years from planting until ivy begins to
move out and cover ground - then, look out!  I've never removed pot soil
from those I've planted out and all have done well.  They will grow in just
about anything, but, like most plants, do better if given a good, organic
soil with even moisture.  Ivy does not do well in soggy soil, but needs to
be watered in dry spells until established.  That old adage, "The first
year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps" is true
about ivy.

It will grow in full sun or deep shade, providing the soil is fairly
decent.  In deep shade and poor, hard clay, it will still grow, but not as
well or luxuriantly.  Once established, it is pretty drought tolerant, too.

After it hits its stride, it does need trimming back each year, sometimes
two or three times if it is near an edge you want to keep visible.

This year, for the first time, some of mine flowered, set seed and I found
ivy seedlings all over the place.  I only know it flowered because some was
blown down from the tree tops after a big storm so I could see it, it was
too far up there to actually see the flowers.

Some months ago, on Gardens-L, Rika Bronsther (hope I spelled that right)
who owns Willow Pond Nursery -  http://www.willowpondnursery.com/index.htm
- said she had some mature ivy that she had propagated, but not listed, but
would sell if anyone was interested.  So, if you are, send her an email,
you can find her email address on her web site.  Otherwise, I have never
seen it listed in the US.   My understanding is that cuttings from mature
ivy (which can be tricky to strike)  will become shrubs, not trees.  The
leaf form changes quite a bit when they mature - you wouldn't recognize
them for ivy.  The first - and only - time I've seen a lot of it in bloom
was in the UK, on a wall.  I was fascinated by this strange plant and asked
one of the gardeners what it was and then felt like a first class dunce
when told it was Hedera helix - it looked nothing like!  He said it took 50
years for it to bloom, but mine that bloomed has only been in place about
22 years.  Actually, I believe I've read that it will begin to change form
and bloom once it reaches the top of whatever it is growing on and can't go
any farther....whenever that occurs.

I have plain old H. helix in some places, but am not as fond of it as the
smaller or variegated leaf varieties as I find it coarse by comparison -
and there are so many that are so interesting in form and color!  I order
them from here and there and when I find them in a grocery store or odd
spot, I'll buy them.  Most of them turn out to be bone hardy for me.  I
always keep them in a pot for a while and take cuttings and then only plant
out part of it to see if it turns out to be hardy, if I'm in doubt.  This
fall, I had occasion to have to build a quickie retaining wall about 3'
high out of logs and I planted it with a variety of small leaf and
variegated ivy in the hope that I will get a tapestry effect and that by
the time the logs rot, the strong, woody root systems will hold back the
bank....we'll see how this turns out.

The Flowerbase web site, which is a good source for plant photos - and was
even better before they revamped it and plastered the pics with text - came
up with 56 hits on Hedera helix.  The page is in frames, but I think this
URL should get it, if anybody isn't familiar with the range of leaf form
and color in ivy and is interested.

http://www.flowerbase.com/detail.asp?entry=1

The one I want is item # 5 - the flowers are pretty incredible...

http://www.flowerbase.com/detail.asp?entry=5

If those URLs won't work, just use the http://www.flowerbase.com and plug
in Hedera helix in the search blank.  If you do it this way, be sure to
check the number of thumbnails you want displayed to a page - I always pick
the highest number - little box on the right bottom of the search form.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Claire Peplowski <ECPep@AOL.COM>
> Date: Friday, January 08, 1999 10:30 PM
>
> 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
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