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Hedera hibernica
Atlantic ivy is an evergreen climbing plant native to the Atlantic coast of Europe, grown on walls, trees and as ground cover. Its key to growing is consistently moist, well-drained soil and control, since it spreads aggressively.
Hedera hibernica, the Atlantic ivy or Irish ivy, is a species of ivy native to the Atlantic coast of Europe.
Native to the Atlantic region, it has been cultivated and can appear in the wild outside its original area, along the Atlantic coast from Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. The plant has an attractive and elegant aspect. It is quite common in gardening, and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Like the related H. helix (English ivy), H. hibernica is an invasive weed in parts of North America with mild winters: in a recent study, 83% of 119 populations of invasive ivy sampled in the Pacific Northwest were found to be H. hibernica and not H. helix as was previously thought. In fact it can be troublesome in any garden, rapidly colonising hedges, trees and borders if not kept in check.
It requires consistently moist soil, and can grow in any light environment from full sun to deep shade. Its natural habitat is forest or dense bush which is cool and cloud-covered for much of the year, such as is often found in mountainous regions near the ocean. It prefers well-drained or alkaline soils rich in nutrients and humus. In areas to which it has been introduced it may be a noxious weed or be invasive.
Algerian Ivy · Azores Ivy · Canary Ivy · Colchis ivy · Hedera crebrescens · Hedera cypria · Common Ivy · Hedera iberica · Hedera maderensis · Hedera maroccana · Himalayan Ivy · Persian Ivy
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hedera hibernica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
