Hedera helix Needlepoint - Common Ivy

Hedera helix 'Needlepoint' is an original and vigorous variety of common ivy, with very interesting foliage, curiously cut like a bird's foot. Its small leaves, finely divided into pointed lobes, have a dark green colour and are shiny with lighter veins, sometimes turning bronze in cold weather. This climbing or creeping ivy is well-branched and dense, forming a charming leafy blanket that will hide everything it needs to, including in the less attractive areas of the garden. Easily controlled through pruning, it also grows well in pots on a terrace or balcony.

Ivies belong to the Araliaceae family and are cousins of Ginseng and fatsias. Hedera helix 'Needlepoint' comes from common ivy, which is found everywhere in European forests, countryside, and gardens. The latter is native to the entire temperate Eurasian zone of the northern hemisphere.

'Needlepoint' is a designation that encompasses several forms of common ivy characterised by deeply cut lobed foliage. Depending on the strains, these subspecies are called 'Digitata', 'Sagittifolia' or 'Pedata'. It is a fast-growing climbing or creeping plant, well-branched from the base and capable of occupying an area of 4m (13ft) by 2m (7ft). Its small, elongated evergreen leaves are divided into 3 to 5 narrow lobes with more or less pointed tips. They are borne on thick, green, and then greyish stems with star-shaped hairs. Their colour is a fairly dark green veined with lighter green to silver. Cold weather sometimes brings out more or less bronze shades on the leaf. The foliage borne by the stems that will flower, located higher on the plant, has a more traditional appearance of ivy leaves, much less cut. The stems cling on their own to supports with powerful climbing roots. In autumn, the nectar from its inconspicuous green flowers, in the form of globular inflorescences, is an excellent source of food for bees. It is followed by the formation of black-blue berries, toxic to humans but an excellent source of winter food for birds.

The perfectly hardy Hedera helix 'Needlepoint', as robust as its ancestor the common ivy, thrives absolutely everywhere except in hot or arid exposures. This plant is a good wall cover but do not neglect it as it can sometimes become invasive or damage old walls or facades. On the other hand, ivies with variegated or cut foliage are irreplaceable for decorating a terrace or balcony, trained on a small wire structure or trailing in draperies along large planters, down to the ground. In the garden, they form excellent ground covers capable of eventually discouraging weeds in full sun, partial shade, or even shade. Associate them with dense perennials to keep their base moist. One can create beautiful low-maintenance woodland scenes by combining ivies with epimediums, lamiums, wood anemones, or perennial geraniums such as macrorrhizum or phaeum, for example.