Ivy - Hardy plant

Ivy grows anywhere really, but it will not be happy if the soil is too marshy. Prefers a sunny spot or even in part shade. This ivy makes great hedging if you plant 3 per metre length, along fencing. Hedera also makes good ground cover.
Where you will be planting your hedera improve the soil by adding a mix of well-rotted manure, potting compost and, if the soil is too moist, some sand. Plant it where it can easily climb - otherwise of course it will just creep over the soil.
Make sure the root ball is drenched prior to planting - soak it overnight in a bucket of lukewarm water. Prepare a large hole and loosen the soil with a fork. Plant your hedera at the correct depth - the top of the root ball should come to just below soil level. Fill the hole with soil, heel well in and water your ivy immediately. Potted Ivy Ivy will thrive in pots too but do ensure good drainage - use a pot with drainage holes in the base. Give it a climbing frame too, or it will just creep where it wants. Shoots you don't tie in will also creep along the ground looking for something to climb against.

Ivy (Hedera sp.) is easily grown and requires little to no maintenance. The leaves will look their best with regular watering but drought conditions are well tolerated.
Pruning ivy
As long as there is room for it, there's no need to prune your ivy. If used as hedging, you will need to prune it at least twice a year to remove any superfluous branches. If you do this in April and July, you will avoid cutting out the flower buds that are formed in the autumn but ivy can actually be pruned at any time. Ivy in the winter This evergreen plant is perfectly hardy although it can lose its leaves in a severe winter. Your ivy will however, shoot new leaves again in the spring.
Potted ivy is less hardy so is better kept in a frost-free area of around 2-5 degrees centigrade - somewhere near a window, as of course without light it will certainly loose its leaves.
 
 

Ivy will flower in late autumn and even in winter. The flowers are a greenish white and hang in rather striking ball shaped clusters. The flower nectar is particularly important for the insects that still fly around at this cold time of year.
The flowers are followed a few weeks later by lovely, blue-glazed berries, which are eaten by the birds. You really do need ivy in your garden if you want to attract lots of little garden birds. Besides helping to feed them, it gives them shelter and even a nesting place.
There are two types of ivy leaf. The 'triangular form' that grows on young branches. As the plant matures, they take on a more diamond shape. Pruning will rejuvenate the plant and new triangular leaves will grow.
There are many varieties available, and even these have been crossed and recrossed. This gives us loads of cultivars varying from white variegated, yellow variegated, and even golden variegated. They all come in different leaf sizes too. Generally speaking, the variegated varieties grow slightly slower than those that are fully green. You can even get varieties that do not climb but rather grow into a shruby form - however, most common types are climbers.
Hedera is classified under the Ivy family (Araliaceae).