Ivy: garden and apartment design
Among the variety of home and garden plants, ivy occupies a special place. It is preferred by many designers, because the flower can easily become the basis for the design of hanging gardens. This representative of the Aralievs goes well with a variety of home colors.
The most unpretentious types of ivy for home and garden
This curly shrub is widely used as a component of vertical and ampelous landscaping. In the courtyard it is used as a hedge, decoration of arches, arbors, walls. The ability to firmly attach to different supports is a common feature of various ivy varieties.
English view
It is a plant that has strong flexible stems, dotted with small leaves of green or variegated color. It is characterized by the ability to quickly grow in different directions, so with its help it is easy to form the most bizarre compositions.
Garden ivy ordinary
This common form with leaves of dark green color with white veins and roots with suckers grows well on various supports. The length of the vine can reach 30 meters. The plant is honey. Pollinating it, the bees produce white fragrant honey with a pronounced aroma of mint.
Colchis ivy
The Caucasian species is characterized by a powerful strong stalk, which can reach 30 meters in length. In natural habitat found in the Caucasus.
Its distinctive feature are large leaves, reaching 20-25 cm in length and 17-20 cm in width.
Sheet plates are usually solid. This species grows very quickly, but does not tolerate frosts.
Boston ivy
The magnificent tree-like liana perfectly looks as decoration of arbors, fences, fences. Its distinctive feature is the external aesthetic appeal. In autumn, leaves turn orange or red. This species prefers diffused light and poorly endured frosts.
How to grow a plant in the apartment
This species is quite shade-loving plant. The only exceptions are varieties with motley leaves. It tolerates flower and drying of the soil. Much more dangerous for him is the stagnation of water in a pot. The best summer temperature will be 22-24 degrees. In the summer heat is recommended to carefully spray the leaves.
From March to August, you need to feed the soil twice a month using complex fertilizers. The main thing - to comply with the measure.
Ivy can be propagated in three ways: shoots, layering and grafting.
Despite the relatively high resistance to various diseases in the home, some diseases are possible:
- for example, the lack of lighting provokes a loss of bright deciduous color;
- permanently dry ground and air can cause leaves to fall.
Breeding ivy in the garden
All varieties of this plant feel good on rich fertile soil. Clay soil can contribute to root decay. Planted plant is recommended in the spring. For this purpose the heights which are protected from winds are ideally suited.
Seedlings should have a healthy developed root system, a large number of shoots.
It is best to propagate the plant by cutting:
- Cuttings about 10 cm long are placed first in water or a mixture composed of sand and sheet soil.
- After the appearance of the roots, they need to be planted in open ground in increments of 50 cm.
- You can put shoots, slightly pressing into the ground. Then within a week you need to water the vine.
- First, you need to permanently loosen the ground, since the root system requires a large amount of air for intensive growth and development.
- Dry summer needs to be watered twice a week.
- In addition, it must be fed with nitrogen-containing fertilizers, and then use fertilizer with potassium and phosphorus.
Examples of the original design of the garden and the apartment with the help of ivy
A common method of interior decoration is vertical gardening. Thanks to the plants, the coolness on the wall is preserved, the noise level is reduced, the bright light of the sun is scattered, and the air is purified.
In the courtyard of the house ivy-twisted arches, arbors, walls create a unique fabulous atmosphere.
The fence decorated with openwork leaves of a liana is perfectly combined with beds. At the same time, the shortcomings of the base itself are completely hidden.
Attractive looks like a winter garden on the balcony, the center of which is exactly the winding vine.
This curly shrub is able to decorate both the garden and the apartment, without requiring large time and financial costs.