Ivy can be grown both inside and outdoors

On the assumption that any organization would like to draw a maximum number of members, then true ivy (Hedera spp.) is a good plant around which to form a society.

To most people, even most gardeners, ivy is just ivy, a nice, but not particularly exciting, plant that clothes the ground as a cool, green mat. Delving a bit deeper, though, one learns that ivy is a plant that mutates readily, and in so doing has given rise to a number of forms, the best of which become named varieties. The American Ivy Society has taken it upon itself to keep the names straight of hundreds different varieties of ivy.

Ivy leaves come in a stunning array of colors and forms. As examples, the variety Gold Heart has green leaves with creamy yellow centers; Glacier’s leaves are mottled gray and green, with a pink picot; and Triloba has purplish-green leaves. A variety such as Little Diamond has miniature leaves. Shamrock, Irish Lace, and Itsy Bitsy are varieties whose leaves are both small and deeply incised. There also are varieties of ivy whose leaves are flat (and heart-shaped, in the case of Sweetheart) or curly (Dragon Claw).

Not all ivy plants grow as

Garden Notes

the familiar lanky, creeping stems.

The varieties Arborescens, Conglomerata, and Erecta have erect stems; they are shrubs! Arborescens can live up to its name and grow to a height and width of 8 feet.

As expected, a plant as variable as ivy could be put to myriad uses. Most commonly, ivy is grown as a groundcover or clambering partway up tree trunks, which does no damage to a tree unless the leaves grow into, and shade,

HAMPDEN Garden Club program

Hampden Garden Club will host guest speaker Kassandra of Kassandra Herbs Unlimited on Thursday at 7 p.m. She will speak on herbs and the various uses to help them maintain the crown. Since the plant can attach itself to wood, stone, and brick, it’s also used to cover walls and arbors. Tomboy, Harrison, or, if a variegated form is desired, then Glacier, are good varieties for climbing walls and arbors. Ivy is not for clapboard siding, though, for the stems will work their way under the boards and push them up.

Ivy is one of the few plants commonly grown both outdoors and indoors in temperate climates. Indoors, good health. Since 1995, Kassandra has been growing, harvesting, storing, and using herbs for medicinal purposes. Guest fee is $5. For questions, call Lil at 413-566-1137.

The Hampden Garden Club would like to thank everyone who helped them make their annual Memorial Day plant sale a success. The fundraiser provides beautification for the town of Hampden as well as student the plant can play the role of a potted foliage plant, a living wreath, or “greens” to accent flowering plants. Indoors or outdoors, ivy can be trained to fanciful three-dimensional forms as topiary.

In some of the oldest gardens in this country, ivy looks very much at home. This is not because the plant is native to America, but because it was carried across the ocean by our earliest colonists as a remembrance of England. The proliferation of ivy in this country highlights two qualities of this plant: the ease with which it is propagated and the ease with which it is grown.

Anyone who bemoans their lack of green thumb should try rooting a cutting of ivy. All you have to do is to stick some ivy stems in a glass of water, and roots will form in a couple of weeks. If your goal of propagation is to produce new plants, rather than your horticultural talent, then root cuttings in moist soil in partial shade. (Cuttings rooted initially in water often suffer when transferred to soil.)

Just about the only way to fail in rooting ivy is with cuttings from adult portions of a plant.

After a number of years, often decades, the uppermost portions of an ivy plant undergo a transition from juvenility to adulthood. Besides being difficult to root, adult leaves are less lobed, and the plants produce flowers and fruits, and have a growth habit that is upright, rather than vining.

Some of the shrubby varieties of ivy mentioned earlier are propagated from adult shoots. Unless a plant has been propagated from adult shoots, in which case the whole plant is adult, the lower portions of old plants remain juvenile, so are easy to root.

I said earlier that the widespread planting of ivy is a testimonial to the ease with which the plant is grown. Ideally, the plant would like a soil that is rich and moist. Ivy will tolerate less than ideal soil conditions if shaded a little from summer sun and protected from the full brunt of winter wind and cold by snow cover or a wall.

Winter damage also can be avoided by choosing a variety that is especially cold-tolerant. Baltica is one such variety — which, incidentally, might be the most widely planted variety — that was originally found growing in Latvia in the early part of the last century. Other cold-hardy selections include Thorndale and 238th Street, the latter named for the street on which it was found in New York City.

Baltica and Hibernica (the variety reputedly brought over by the colonists) are the ivy varieties with which most us are familiar. If the American Ivy Society realizes its goal, though, all of us will want to plant ivy, and when we plant we will consider choosing from a broad spectrum of leaf shapes, colors, sizes, and plant habits.

Any gardening questions? Email them to me at garden@ leereich.com and I’ll try answering them directly or in this column. Come visit my garden at leereich.com/blog scholarships.

STOCKBRIDGE Upcoming events

Berkshire Botanical Garden presents “In the Weeds: Community Story Night” on Friday, from 6 to 8 p.m. Sheela Clary, local storytelling teacher and Moth StorySLAM winner, will host. She has been running in and participating in storytelling events around Berkshire County for eight years. Cost is $18 members, $20 nonmembers.

For more information or to register, visit berkshirebotanical.org. Berkshire Botanical Garden is located at 5 West Stockbridge Road.

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