Re: [SG] new subject - ivy

A good source for ivies is "Hedera etc."  They are listed in Barbara
Barton's book (again, my catalog is not here at the moment) and probably
have a website.  They have hundreds of ivies and also sell rooted cuttings
of mature (shrub) stems of many varieties.  Prices are extremely reasonable.

While I very much enjoy my 20 or so varieties of variegated and specialty
ivies, I much regret having planted 100 cuttings of the "regular" ivy in
the woods north of the house.  It has spread over most of half an acre and
does not really do the job--as others have said, woody plants come up
through it.  It also seems to be able to coexist with Japanese honeysuckle,
our main plant pest, and the native brambles.  To some extent this can be
controlled by mowing the area in the later winter.  The ivy comes back
better than the other plants.  It has also gone up every tree in the
vicinity.  When we had to have a large dead rock elm removed this summer,
we had to pay the tree company extra because the ivy covering it from top
to bottom was such a problem for them--inteferes with climbing and limbing
and tangles chain saws and hand tools.

It is getting out into the lawn and where it has reached the house, has to
be removed twice a year.

Where ivy naturally grows more slowly it could be used as a ground cover,
or if one used one of the slow-growing varieties.  But I cannot recommend
planting it unless you want it to go entirely wild.

Plant the variegated and special-leaved kinds where you can keep them in
hand and enjoy them.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
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