Ivy is the oldest decorative culture from the Araliev family, known even to the ancient Romans. The plant comes from the subtropical and tropical regions of Eurasia. Distributed in Southeast Asia, Africa, the southern regions of Europe. It is found in Russia in the Crimea, along the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. This evergreen plant in nature is able to climb high in trees using its aerial sucker roots.
Ivy is mainly used for vertical gardening, but it can also be grown in hanging baskets, as an ampule plant, or as a groundcover. The plant rarely blooms, starting at the age of ten. The flowers are small, nondescript, yellow-green in color are umbellate inflorescences. Ivy berries are poisonous, but they serve as an excellent food for birds, which then distribute seeds with their droppings. The leaves are medium-sized, dark green, glossy, 3-7-lobed, with a heart-shaped base. Sometimes leaves have spots, a mesh of light veins or a fringing.
Indoor ivy is derived from common species of ordinary garden ivy. The best green-leaved and climbing species for indoor cultivation are:
- ivy deltoid;
- Pastukhov ivy;
- arrow ivy.
In a deltoid plant, the stems are tall and thin, and the leaves with 3 protrusions. Pastukhov ivy - with thin, curly lashes and elongated, with three teeth, olive or black-green leaves, with bright spots. Strelolistny - the most small-leaved species with thin and short stems.
A beautiful climbing plant is waxy ivy. This species belongs to the gusset family. More than 70 species of this plant grows in Malaya, India and China. It is a climbing or climbing plant with fleshy leaves, as if covered with a waxy coating. Ivy forms beautiful inflorescences. The best garden forms for indoor cultivation are the following: beautiful waxy and beefy leaf.
Beautiful indoor wax ivy is a small bush with thin stems. The leaves are fleshy, light green in color, small, oblong. Blooms in summer with white, with a red center, flowers.
Wax meat-leaved ivy comes from Australia and China. Its leaves are elongated (5-8 cm), oval, fleshy, glossy, green, 3-4 cm wide. Five-pointed flowers, with a delicate aroma. Corollas of flowers are white, large, with a reddish center. This indoor ivy has beautiful shapes and blooms annually in spring and summer.
Ivy is a houseplant, which, in addition to fitting beautifully into the interior, also perfectly cleans the air in the apartment. The plant is classified as shade-tolerant. It does not tolerate direct sunlight, but prefers bright, well-lit places. Doesn't like location changes. In summer it requires abundant watering, in winter - moderate. It requires frequent spraying, especially in summer, it is possible to periodically wash it in the shower (if the plant is small and can be tolerated). Ivy propagates by cuttings, and they already have their aerial roots. To cuttings rooted better, they are covered with a glass jar.
If you want to take indoor ivy to the garden, then it is better to do this at the beginning of summer, since the plant needs time to adapt and harden. Moved to the ground in winter, ivy will die during the first freeze.
Another beautiful, lushly branching indoor plant with luxurious flowers is abutilon from the family of malvaceae. It is called indoor maple. It grows very quickly and can grow up to 3 meters in height. Abutilon blooms from May to October. His flowers are quite large - 6-8cm, can be found in the shape of a bowl, bell or Chinese lantern. The colors are very bright: red or pink, yellow or snow-white.
Indoor maple photophilous. Prefers direct sunshine for several hours a day. In winter, the minimum temperature is allowed about 5 ° C, during the growth period - about 22 ° C. In summer, the maple needs abundant watering, the land of the plant should not dry out. With drying, as well as with waterlogging, the plant drops buds and leaves. He does not like drafts, can be affected by aphids, whiteflies, red spider webs and cyclamen mites.