Garden Layout - Plants - Ivies
Ivies are such useful and versatile plants that they are found throughout the garden. The three biggest ivies are used to clothe the trellis that separates the garden from the compound, but there are quite a few other varieties dotted around.
This is Hedera helix 'Goldheart', a popular ivy with a spalsh of golden-yellow at the centre of a medium-sized green leaf. It is a good climber, although it may need tying in during its early years, and reaches a height of maybe 3 metres. This specimen has a spead of around 1.5m from its base, and is very densely leaved. The new shoots are pinkish at first and I would say that this is a medium vigourous plant.	Hedera helix 'Goldheart'
Hedera colchica 'Paddy's pride'	This is Hedera colchica 'Paddy's Pride', a slow-growing ivy with cream edges to its large leaves, surrounding a centre composed from 2 shades of green, a typical 'ivy-green' and a bluer, paler green. Some of these heart-shaped leaves can be 150mm or more across, but the majority are around 100mm across the shoulders. It's shoots are non-clinging and need to be supported or tied in, and it is an open-looking ivy, not overly dense with foliage, but with good vigour, once established.
Hedera hibernica, also known as Irish Ivy, is an exceedingly vigourous, dark-green leaved ivy. It can grow new shoots over 3 metres long in a single season, and is quite densely leaved. Left to run free, it seems to have no limit to height and spread, and so should only be planted in a spot that isn't going to be a source of regret in years to come. It provides an excellent backcloth for small climbing flowers, such as the Canary Creeper, Tropaeolum peregrinum and is a haven for all sorts of wierd and wonderful insects.	Hedera hibernica
Hedera helix 'Glacier'	A pale-green ivy that is a self clinging climber is Hedera helix 'Glacier'. I grow it up the washing-line post that is situated in the rockery, and it does a wonderful job in hiding the concrete monstrosity. The leaves are smallish, never more than 50mm in length or breadth, and are made up from 3 shades of pale green. It is a slow grower, climbing perhaps 450mm per year but quite densely leaved. It is exceptionally amenable to propagation by cuttings, which can be taken at any time during the growing season and is also quite good to use in foliage or winter baskets. It's also a perfect candidate for training, either into a 'standard' or something more exotic.
This one is Hedera helix 'Green Ripple', if my information is correct. Rippled, shiny, green leaves with yellowish veins, it is quite eye-catching and forms a perfect foil to the pale lilac Campanula porschkayana that can be seen in the photo. It is a self-clinging climber, but also makes excellent ground cover in a woodland setting. It is fairly vigourous, growing 600mm and more per season. I cadged this plant from a client who had it cascading over an old cheshire-brick wall in his garden. The soil at the foot of the wall was incredibly hard-packed and dry, but this ivy coped with that, and with regular pruning, with no trouble at all.	Hedera helix 'Green Ripple'
Hedera erecta	How about this for a strange little plant? Hedera erecta, the upright ivy, is a gem that I picked up at a rare plant fair some years ago and is always a conversation piece when people first see it. It is exceedingly slow-growing, only 30-50mm per year, and it carries the little leaves quite close to the main stem, which branches, much as a poplar does, but always stands erect. This specimen is about 350mm high now, and resides in a pot on the patio most of the time. It is a valuable plant for a winter pot.

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