Does Ivy Bloom?

Plant Gender

• English ivy plants are either male or female, based on the flowers produced later it their life cycle. There is no physical feature that distinguishes the plant sexes prior to their flowering age. Other species of Hedera may produce flowers with both male and female sex organs present, called perfect flowers.

Plant Growth Stages

• Two separate growth or developmental stages occur in all English ivy plants. After germinating, the ivy grows in what is often called the creeping, or climbing juvenile stage. Lots of adventitious roots grow from the upward-growing vines and the leaves display much more ornate, deeply lobed leaves. After a decade of growth, climbing on tree trunks toward sunlight, the ivy enters its adult stage. The tips of the vines high up in trees branch to create a bushy shrub silhouette. The leaves formed in the adult stage lack many lobes and become much larger and floppy.

Flowering

• In very late summer or early fall, the English ivy plant produces clusters of tiny yellowish green flowers at the tips of the bushy adult branches. The flower clusters, called inflorescences, look like dill flowers or tiny umbrellas. In English ivy, plants produce either male or female flowers; only female flowers with pistil organs produce black berry fruits after being pollinated. These berries are quickly eaten by hungry songbirds and the seeds distributed around the landscape in their droppings.

Effect of Pruning

• When grown as houseplants, trimming long stems of English ivy result in rejuvenating growth that keeps the plant small and in the juvenile creeping stage -- it will not flower. Outdoors, English ivy is usually grown as a voracious, dense ground cover that grows horizontally. If no vines grow upward on a fence, tree trunk or other vertical support, the plant often remains in a juvenile form. Occasional shearing or cutting back English ivy ground cover also results in rejuvenation with lots of ornate leaves and juvenile growth. Horizontal, ground-sprawling stems of English ivy won't flower.