How to Grow Beautiful Ivy
The ivy plant is a great climbing vine and is commonly used to cover walls, fences and trellises. It is a strong and aggressive plant that grows fairly quickly and can be very invasive by crowding out and killing other plants. The most common and well known type of ivy is English Ivy.
The best growing conditions for ivy is full sunlight with just a little shade. However it does not take too much sun to grow ivy, but it will grow much more slowly in shady areas. Ivy does not do well in cold wet conditions or standing water, but it will be able to live through too much water in a warmer month.
Ivy can be grown either as a house plant or in the garden. If grown in the house, ivy grows best in a place where it can get at least four hours of direct sunlight during the day. However it will still grow in an indirect light source, although it still needs to be fairly bright. Ivy house plants enjoy cooler temperatures, about 50 during the night and 70 during the day. Soil of indoor ivy plants needs to be evenly moist and fertilized once a month with half strength fertilizer.
For garden grown ivy, plant the ivy in an area that gets partial to full shade and has good drainage with peat moss. It is better to plant the ivy in the spring, setting the plants a foot apart. The soil and the plant itself need to be well watered before planting the ivy. Prune the plant to six inches for the first few months and when the ivy is fully grown prune it only a couple times a year (this will make it grow fuller).
Tips: Once the ivy is grown, fertilize the plant every other month during the ivy's growing season.
