Can English Ivy grow indoors? Or is its beauty just confined to indoors? Let’s learn its requirements below!
An evergreen perennial, the woody English ivy grows quickly, spreading horizontally as a ground cover. However, it also showcases aerial rootlets, which it can climb to, sometimes up to 80 feet! While the English ivy does showcase small greenish flowers, it is renowned for its evergreen leaves. If you want to add ground cover to garden patches, the English ivy can be a great candidate. But can English ivy grow outdoors? This is what you will get to know in this article.
Can English Ivy Grow Outdoors?
The English ivy is generally considered a finicky plant, especially indoors. However, it is quite an aggressive grower outdoors and is even considered invasive in some areas. So, yes, English ivy can grow outdoors. But before you plant one in your backyard, check to see if it is invasive in your area. Also, watch out for children and pets, as this plant can be toxic for them.
If this is sorted, you can plant your English ivy outdoors in spring. The best part is English ivy needs little to no maintenance when planted outdoors and can establish itself quite quickly. We are talking months, which when compared to indoor care, it can take at least a year for it to get a growth spurt.
Care Requirements When Growing English Ivy Outdoors
1) Ivy Needs Shade
English ivy grows best in partial to full shade, making it the best ground cover, especially in bald spots where grasses do not receive enough sunlight. Where grasses do not grow well, English ivy can spread rapidly and is thus an excellent choice to crowd out weeds.
2) Well-drained soil Is A Must
This evergreen vine needs well-drained soil to thrive. Though it is a hardy plant that can survive in poor soils of a wide range of pH levels, you should plant it in average loamy soil. If you reside in a drier climate, add a thick layer of mulch to the soil to keep it moist.
3) Err On The Dry Side When Watering
Ivy prefers to grow in slightly drier soil. It is important always to check the soil and ensure it is dry to the touch before you water it. When growing outdoors in loamy soil, you would not need to water ivy as much as it were indoors. The ivy detests soggy, overly wet soil.
4) Warm Temperatures and Higher Humidity
English ivy grow best and maintain their evergreen foliage in steady temperatures and medium to high humidity levels. They cannot tolerate high summer temperatures or cold drafts in winter. Since you cannot maintain a temperature of 70°F to 90°F (21°C to 32°C) outdoors, you can either grow a potted plant of ivy outdoors or plant it in a place where it will be shielded from extreme heat or cold.
Pro Tip: To protect your ivy from winter winds, prep the soil beforehand in fall by keeping it moist. Maintain this until the first frost. Dry foliage and moist soil can help your plant survive the cold weather.
5) Feed In Summer
The active growing season of English ivy is summer, when you should feed your plant with a 20-20-20 balanced fertilizer every two weeks. However, it is important to avoid feeding your plant in the following conditions: if the climate is too hot or too cold, if leaf production has stopped, and if the soil is too dry.
6) Pruning Is Crucial
Pruning ground cover plants like English ivy in spring is crucial to keeping them manageable and preventing leaf spots caused by bacteria. During spring, pinch off the growing tips and prune the ivy into a bushy shape with a sharp, clean pair of pruning shears.
Since English ivy is a fast grower, you might often see it climbing one of your other trees. Please do not panic, it won’t harm the host. However, when removing the ivy from the tree, do not just rip it. It could hurt the tree itself. Instead, cut the vining stem from the base and let it naturally die off. This technique is the best way to remove invading vines, but you must be patient.
You will need to prune this way every year to sap out all the energy from the plant to stop growing anew. You must follow this technique if your ivy has been growing up on building too, especially the old ones. Go in and get rid of aerial roots that might remain on the walls with a hard brush.
