English Ivy is infamous for its invasiveness in other countries and for how quickly it spreads regardless of location. Often people have a love-hate relationship with this plant. But here where it's native, English Ivy is an amazing plant. Read on to find out all I know...

The Family

Its scientific name is Hedera helix, in the family Araliaceae. Aralias include the ivies, as well as popular garden and house plants such as the false castor oil plant (Fatsia japonica), which it can hybridise with, and the umbrella trees (Heptapleurum, formerly and commonly known by hobbyists as Schefflera). It’s one of two native ivy species in Great Britain, the other being Irish Ivy (Hedera hibernica).

Description

English Ivy is a clinging evergreen climber that climbs using sticky aerial roots that attach it very firmly to surfaces. The familiar plant with maple-like leaves is the juvenile phase, in which it climbs rapidly, while the adult phase has heart-shaped leaves on woody, protruding branches, and even round yellow flowers and black berries which I talk more about below. It reaches the adult phase after approximately 10 years of growth.

Benefits for wildlife: 

Juvenile phase

In the juvenile phase, it offers great shelter for many animals such as insects and rodents, and the leaves are food for animals such as the second brood of the Holly Blue Butterfly, the Double-striped Pug, Swallow-tailed and Yellow-barred Brindle Moths.

Adult phase

The adult phase is where wildlife really benefits! In autumn, when many other flowers are spent, Ivy produces clusters of yellow flowers. The late bees, wasps, hoverflies, flies and the odd butterfly go crazy for these flowers! Also, the Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae), a newcomer species of mining bee which was first recorded in England in 2001 having travelled from mainland Europe, almost exclusively forages for pollen in ivy flowers! After the pollinators have had their fill, the flowers are replaced with black berries, which are a valuable and calorie-rich food for 16 species of bird including the Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Blackbird and Blackcap!

Relationship with humans

The benefits to wildlife are amazing and as a bonus, ivy can benefit us too! Although ivy can damage a wall with cracks in it as its roots can make the cracks worse and end up holding it together, a healthy wall should be fine. When ivy coats a wall, it acts as an insulator, keeping heat in during the winter, and keeping the heat out during summer! This can reduce your heating costs. Ivy also comes in many cultivars (basically the plant version of dog breeds) that can be found in many garden centres, with unique leaf colours and shapes! While not all of these may flower (particularly if potted) they can look beautiful in a hanging basket or can brighten up a wall. Ivy thrives in a variety of light levels and is also a popular houseplant! It loves a humid room like a bathroom and helps suck harmful chemicals, excess moisture, and mould spores out of the air.

In the past, it was also considered a festive plant alongside holly, which is still commonly associated with Christmas.

Growing ivy

Ivy is also very easy to grow yourself from scratch: you can cut a few inches of stem from a decently sized juvenile plant, remove the bottom leaves, and stick the stem, with a few nodes (areas where leaves emerge) in soil, and it may root after a few weeks! You can also plonk it in water instead and it can root, but it’s recommended that you change the water out about twice a week so it doesn’t get dirty/full of algae. When you move it to soil, keep it moist while the roots adjust. It can also grow from the seeds in the berries, although cuttings are best if you want a clone of your original plant.

Final words

With all of this in mind, I hope you’ll consider adding ivy to your garden, or even your home! If you’re still worried about how aggressively it can spread, or you simply don’t like the look, there are many other plants that are amazing for wildlife! If you want a climber that doesn’t stick to the walls itself but still benefits wildlife and looks beautiful, I recommend Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)! Beloved by bees at day and cherished even more by moths at night, the flowers are fragrant and are food for the Hazel Dormouse, an elusive rodent who we don’t see enough of nowadays. Plus, birds also love its berries! Just avoid the invasive Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica).

By Joshua