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English ivy plants can act as groundcovers, spreading horizontally and reaching 8" in height. However, they are also climbers due to their aerial rootlets, which allow them to climb to heights of 50' or more. They will eventually bear insignificant greenish flowers but are grown primarily for their evergreen foliage.
Trim them in the spring to keep them manageable and discourage bacterial leaf spots. Spray with insecticidal soap and horticultural oil as necessary to control mites.
Grow in well-drained soil from partial shade to full shade.
Their ability to grow in the shade has made English ivy plants a traditional groundcover for problematic areas under trees, where most grasses do not grow well. Their vigorous, dense growing habit makes them an effective groundcover where the object is to crowd out weeds. On slopes, they can be used for erosion control. Some take advantage of the climbing ability of these vines to use them to cover a wall, while others grow them in hanging baskets, letting them cascade over the sides.
English ivy plants have fallen out of favor in many circles in North America, where they are considered invasive plants. These days, many people wish to learn how to get rid of them as they wish to grow them. They are also poisonous plants.
In the Christmas carol, "The Holly and The Ivy," we see a symbolism with these two evergreen plants that derive from pagan times. While the druids thought of holly as masculine and suggestive of a male deity, English ivy plants for them represented female divinity. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, ivy was sacred to the god Dionysus (Bacchus in Latin)
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