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Does anyone grow ground ivy on purpose?

FireFire Posts: 19,096
in Wildlife gardening
I have lots of it and wonder if anyone likes it for wildlife and the flowers?
Thanks
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Are we talking Glechoma hederacae or Hedera helix? 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • SpikyButStunningSpikyButStunning Posts: 2
    edited November 2020
    There are some attractive variegated cultivars - Glechoma hederacae 'Variegata' and others - that look good trailing down a drystone wall or rockery edge.
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    I don't have it, but if some appeared I wouldn't pull it up.
    I generally welcome all wildflowers, though I do control would-be world dominaters, and ragwort for the benefit of of my and my neighbours' livestock.
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    I recall that your post was actually about ivy on the ground, not the wildflower.
    The front of my house is covered in ivy (H. Goldheart) and so is the side of the garage. It seems disinclined to grow horizontal; though it will grow up the roof of the house, the flat roof on the garage is carpeted by moss instead.
    I have to clip it to retain some control, but I leave arboreal stems where I can and it is always full of bird's nests. The pied wagtails nest in it every year and this year there was a goldfinch, a dunnock and a blackbird too and those are only the ones that I know about. The ivy flowers attract lots  of insects, though are usually a bit too early for bees here.
    I have never found a self- sown ivy seedling, so all the fruits must get eaten by something. Holly seedlings are very rare too!
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
    I have grown Hedera 'Duck Foot' as a ground cover for many years.
    A trim back about once a year stops it getting into shrubs etc.
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    I have ivy Hedera helix swamping everything on the ground, it kills everything else and does it's best to get up trees posts and anything it can cling onto.It's a real nightmare to get out as well. The only thing that stops it is sunlight and larger plants that die back over winter managing to swamp it, the best plant to keep it in it's place here is ground elder.. which is really not an improvement!
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Ground ivy - Glechoma hederacae.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Buttercupdays said:
    I recall that your post was actually about ivy on the ground, not the wildflower.
    That wasn't me.

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I think ground ivy is very pretty when growing wild in the countryside but I would only plant it in a wild bit of garden not in my borders.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    We have ground ivy growing in our lawn, and I love it.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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