English Ivy (Invasive Alert!)

 

Here is your basic green English Ivy foliage.

As the Ivy ages, the leaves will get larger especially when exposed to full sun.

These are the flower buds, the flowers aren't particularly showy and the petals are a pale greenish-yellow color. Note the change in leaf shape on the stem in the upper right corner. This ivy patch is decades old and is displaying mature form characteristics.

Here is a side shot with a lot of flower bud clusters and a shot of a mature form stem, the leaves change shape enough that you might not recognize it's plain old English ivy.

 

 

Common Name: English Ivy

 

Other Common Names: Common Ivy, European Ivy, Ivy.

 

Botanical Family: Araliaceae (The Ginseng Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Hedera helix

 

Description & Habitat:  English Ivy is native to Europe, Northern Africa and parts of

Western Asia. The name ‘Hedera’ is the classical Latin word for ivy and helix means spiral which refers to how ivy tends to spiral in its grown up trees and structures. There are possibly hundreds of specific cultivars of this plant in the nursery trade word wide and in general the more white variegation they have the less aggressive they are however Ivy does have the potential to ‘revert’ or go back to a greener coloration. English Ivy was introduced to the Americas as early as 1727 by European colonists and is generally planted as a care free evergreen ground cover. It is considered a serious weed in wild ecosystems and cultivated landscapes. Eglish Ivy is considered a noxious weed in Autralia, Canada, New Zealand, and in the United States. Oregon in specific bans it’s sale or importing and in some places Ivy can choke out all other plants creating a “Ivy-desert” in the same way Kudzu can. As a final note for this plant, it’s roots do not exude acid, but rather a glue like substance. Also, when this plant blooms it’s flowers are very attractive to Wasps and Hornets.

 

Botanical Latin synonyms for this plant include Hedera acuta, Hedera arborea, Hedera baccifera and also Hedera grandiflora.

 

When & What to Harvest: The leaves and berries of English Ivy contain a glycoside called Hederin which can cause negative health effects if ingested.  The foliage may also cause dermatitis in some individuals. In addition to that the large number of saponins found in the leaves and fruits of this plant make it mildly poisonous and it should be avoided as a wild medicine or food. Laboratory grade extracts from this plant are used in modern cough syrups.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.

 

Related Edible Species: None are known.

 

Recipe: Not applicable.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/vine/hedhel/all.html

https://www.invasive.org/alien/pubs/midatlantic/hehe.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Soil Amendment Products (New!)

Live Mushroom Compost – 3 Gallon Bag

Live Mushroom Compost – 1 Gallon Bag

 

 

Garden Plants

Cutleaf Coneflower, Large

Cutleaf Coneflower, Medium

Pepper Vine

Cotton, Mississippi Brown Lint

Spanish Bayonet

Marigold, Naughty Marietta – Yellow

Marigold, Naughty Marietta – Orange

Madagascar Periwinkle, Blackberry

Madagascar Periwinkle, Cranberry

Salvia, Victoria

Zinnia, All American Mix

 

Coming Soon:

American Aloe

Spineless Prickly Pear

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Lemmon’s Marigold

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is June 22^nd at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.