Help me maintain my ivy topiary

October 12, 2005 8:49 AM

Please help a recovering black thumb gardener with burning questions about a gorgeous ivy topiary...

We bought a potted ivy topiary plant about 4 months ago. It's been on our porch step ever since and is clearly thriving - which is great since I've previously killed just about every plant I've owned and am only just starting to get the hang of this plant thing. Here are my questions:

The ivy is trained around a square iron 'trellis'. At this point, the topiary has plenty of ivy on it and it's getting overgrown, so I'd like to trim it. My question is - how? Where do I cut and how much? And is there a way of getting the cuttings to sprout roots so I can create my own topiary?

Also, it's getting colder (I live in CT) and I'm unsure how much longer I can keep the plant outside. And once I bring it inside, how do I best maintain it?

posted by widdershins to home & garden (5 comments total)

Take it inside before it freezes. Up until then, you should be okay with ivy. Keep it close to a window, getting as close to as much light as it did outside. It probably won't like being inside and might drop leaves or stop growing for a while. Just keep watering it regularly and baby it along until spring.
As for rooting cuttings, ivy is a very invansive plant, and you may be able to root it from a leaf or stem. You can try a couple of things: stick the piece you have cut off into a pot of damp dirt or a cup of water and see what happens. They also make rooting powder, which you can buy at a nursery. Just dip the cut end of the stem into the powder and place in the dirt.
posted by slimslowslider at 9:08 AM on October 12, 2005

Yes, but... DO NOT PLANT IVY IN THE GROUND.

"Invasive" is a very gentle way to put it.

The stuff is almost impossible to kill. I've torn it down to stumps in the ground, and being unable to pull it up, I am still fighting to keep it under control. The stuff just... keeps... coming back.
posted by Savannah at 9:35 AM on October 12, 2005

Trim it one ot two tendrils at a time, slowly. Don't worry, you won't hurt it, but take your time and don't hack at it. Like a hair cut.

Savannah is right, ivy is extremely invasive and you should not plant it outside. (Here is Portland we have an annual ivy pull in the public parks to try and stop the ivy's rampant growth; it kills trees and all native undergrowth.)

When you take the ivy inside, be careful not to overwater. Let the top of the soil dry out before watering it again. And slim's right: it will need as much light as possible.

To sprout: simply put in a cup of water, wait a few weeks for roots to appear, and plant in moist soil. Keep the soil super moist for a few weeks afterwards: it takes time for the roots that formed in the water to adjust to taking nutrients from dirt.
posted by Specklet at 12:58 PM on October 12, 2005

You might also give it a weekly cool shower or spray just to be sure that no mites, etc. are hanging out. Plants love that. Also in the winter an overheated and/or dry room encourages these little pests to multiply so keep the plant coolish and give it far less water than in the warmer months as a poster already said.
posted by clon7 at 3:53 PM on October 12, 2005

Take a look at ivy.org, the website for the American Ivy Society. Down at the bottom of the page they have a link to "The Care of Ivies" and it has simple, straight-forward information on care and propogation.

You'll probably want to bring it in soon. The amount of cold ivy varieties can withstand varies greatly. And a variety bred to make nice container topiaries has probably lost most of its frost resistance. Also, the adjustment to the warmer indoor temperatures will be easier than if you wait until it's colder outside. Try to keep it (at least initially) in a location with the maximum light and minimum heat.

If the plant is truly in great shape, you can probably take a good hunk of it away (that's what we did at the florists and garden centers I've worked at, pruning not being a daily task). And having a somewhat reduced above-the-ground load will make the move a little easier for the plant to manage. Cut the stems about .25'-.5" above where a leaf joins the stem. A new sprout will likely form from between the stem and the leaf stem, so you can direct the growth a bit through picking where to prune. Cuttings are easy from ivy, directions are at the website I mentioned.

Your biggest concern keeping your ivy indoors will keeping the spider mites at bay. And the best way to do that is to keep the humidity up. Misting helps, as does giving the plant a shower once a month. Make sure the spray hits the bottoms of the leaves well, that's where the mites hide. If it looks like tiny pinpricks of green are missing from the leaves, you've most likely got mites. (Incidentally, I can grow all sorts of plants indoors well, but ivies always end up being mite nurseries for me.)

As for the invasiveness, that's less of problem for you than others. The Pacific Northwest is pretty much ivy heaven--cool, mild and wet. The winter-summer extremes of eastern N. America are much more stressful on the plants. Here in the Great Lakes region, ivies tend to take several years of coddling to get them established, it's a fight to keep them alive.

Good luck!
posted by jaut at 9:39 PM on October 12, 2005