The Gardener's Guide to Growing Ivies

Visit any florist shop or nursery today and you'll find pots of ivy. The hardy forms are commonly seen climbing the sides of older buildings. This plant is so common and well know that most people don't realize that it is not a native plant. Ivy is only native to Europe, North Africa and Asia.

One of the most recent books on ivies is The Gardener's Guide to Growing Ivies authored by Peter Q. Rose, was published by Timber Press in 1996. This comprehensive book presents the history of ivy, its cultivation, and descriptions of most of the ivy species, cultivars and clones. Let's take a closer look at this book's contents now.

Historical Uses of Ivy

According to Peter Rose, archeologists have dated ivy pollen found at ruins to 5600 B.C. The first written accounts of ivy date back to 370-287 B.C. One of the interesting uses of ivy occurred in Roman times -- stores used an adult ivy bush as a sign that they sold wine. You'll have to read the rest of chapter 1 to learn more of the history of ivy and man's use of the plant.

Pliny the elder, an early doctor, used a concoction of ivy leaves, vinegar and rose oil to cure headaches. Other early doctors used ivy to cure skin blemishes. Early in the 1st millennium, doctors used powdered ivy berries mixed in water as a cure for bladder stones. Other cures made from parts of the ivy plant are discussed in chapter 2.

Why is a Plant Called an Ivy?

Taxonomists, those people who name plants or animals, study plants to find characteristics which can separate one group of plants from any other group of plants. In the case of ivies, several features are useful. Ivies have juvenile leaves and, for reasons not yet known, the plant eventually grows adult leaves which look quite different. Another feature that helps the taxonomists and botanists is the presence of tiny hairs on the leaves and stems. Chapter 3 discusses ivy flowers, types of variegated leaves, and even a parasitic plant that lives on the ivy. You'll have to read the chapter in its entirety to learn more.

All ivies belong to the plant genus "Hedera. I counted 8 ivy species listed in this book. Chapter 4 talks about how the plant was named and discusses the currently used rules of nomenclature. If you're a gardener, you may not be fussy about having the specific name of each ivy you have. Botanists, on the other hand, seek to identify each plant down to its genus, species, variety, subgenus, etc. Study the diagrams in this chapter carefully to learn the different parts of the leaf and stem, and the shape of the hairs. One important detail necessary to understanding the next chapter is that most ivy found in our stores today as houseplants are actually clones. This means that a different looking leaf appeared on some other species and was then propagated vegetatively.

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