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Vines - Part 5 - Ivy - Page 4

© Marge Talt

I planted several pots of ivy in the wall. All of them are smaller leaf forms, which I prefer. Some, like this lovely variegated form, have no name - either from losing the tag or never having one. I pick up ivy here and there; many come from the grocery store. And, over the years, I've ordered them mailorder and the tags have been removed by the local wildlife or disintegrated while I've kept them in pots. This one has chartreuse and green new growth, changing to a creamy white edging. The leaf shape is extremely variable.

'Little Lutzie' does have a name; a rather strange one, I think. One that doesn't reflect the true beauty of this cultivar. At a distance, the variegation isn't as apparent; the overall effect is of fresh bright green with shadows. This just might be one that I got from the Hedera, etc. booth at Philadelphia Flower Show this spring.

Quite a number of nurseries on the web offer some ivy, but Hedera offers over three hundred cultivars as well as twelve species. (See More Information at the end of the article for address and email.)

This is another really neat one, possibly 'Manda Crested'. The leaf ripples so much it was virtually impossible to capture in the scan. It's got a very soft look about it; delicate like a tender butter lettuce and almost the same color.

There's a possibility that this white variegated form might be 'Kolibri'. It looks quite similar to a photo of it I found on the web. The white variegation is almost a marbling - really shows up quite well.

Another "perhaps". This time the possibility is 'Glacier'. The variegation is much whiter than this scan shows, closer to ivory than the pale yellow it came out.

What's so interesting is the variance in the green. It looks as though some garden elf with a deft hand was practicing watercolors. I also like the occasional odd leaf shape. The previous three seem to want to turn and twist, while this one is more of a trailer.

All of them have adopted the wall enthusiastically, despite a good deal of the soil I'd packed around their roots having washed off in the year they've been there. All of them have put on new growth. I've spent a little time encouraging them to grow in directions I want them to, instead of down, which is what they seem to think might be nice. I want them to root into all the joints between the logs, so they will start to make that web of roots I have high hopes for in future.

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