Can You Grow a Bonsai Tree From Common Garden Ivy?
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Hedera helix 'Variegata' /Variegated English Ivy is a plant that you will find in most gardens around the UK and in fact all around the world, it's a climbing plant that can spread 40 to 50 feet so it's not the first thing you might think about creating a Bonsai tree with, but when I saw it as a volunteer seedling in my garden I couldn't help thinking that it might make a very pleasing Bonsai tree, so after 5 years of growth and occasional trimming, it has grown into a proud and stately tree in miniature form.
Ivy is quite slow growing so it's easy to keep in shape so it's just a case of trimming the branches and shoots that you don't want and leaving the ones you do, over time it will get stronger and the base of the trunk will form with the roots making this look older.
I stuck 2 cuttings in soil after pruning my ivy that I have indoor as a hanging plant and forgot about them, today I saw that one was alive and had a few roots, it kinda looked like a small tree cutting and googled if it could be a bonsai and found this, thank you! Now I’m going to repot it👌🏻
Wow, I love that Ivy bonsai! 😍 Great job Andy! You have mastered the zen practice of patience as well! 😁
Thank Jay and thanks for the shout out!
I just started growing a few for bonsai fun, this is inspirational! I have one I'm trying to grow downward, wish me luck, please! Thanks for sharing!
Nice.
You answered all the main questions I had regarding suitability of Ivy as Bonsai , thank you.
You are most welcome, glad it was helpful!
Came to you from Bue Jay channel. Had to check it out. Awesome!! We're new to gardening but love it:)
Cheers from Victoria BC, subbed
Jason and Colleen 🌱🌱🌱
Awesome! Thanks for coming over!
Frankly, I'm impressed by your video. I have never thought an bonsai tree could be grown with an ivy. A friend of mine who's a bonsai artist might be surprised as well. We live in Algeria, by the way, and my friend is planning to write a book about bonsais in Berber, an African language. Warm greetings from Algeria and thank you for your very instructive (and interesting) video :-)
So nice of you, glad it was interesting!
This needs more views
Very nice of you to say so, feel free to share! 😃👍
Absolutely enjoyed this video, what a pretty plant it turned out to be!
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm very pleased with how it turned out so far.
I’m glad I’m not the only person to think and try stuff like this.
How did you get on?
@@HouseplantHacks some of them do ok like a thanksgiving cactus and ficus. Others haven’t fared well. As soon as I get going good I have to travel and get home to half dead plants.
Nicely done just picked one up at Lowe's
thanks!
looks awesome! i bought myself one just today. btw: wisteria is normally a vine, but can be grown into a beautiful bonsai aswell.
Thanks for the tip Marcello, I will look out for one to try this with, I love Wisteria!
I didn't know Ivy was capable of doing that! I wish I could do that! Would love to see a more in-depth tutorial.
You are, for sure capable of doing that, with some time and a little love you can grow a beautiful Ivy Bonsai. As you asked so nicely I'll do a more detailed how-to. :-)
@@HouseplantHacks will look forward to it!
I'm currently trying this out on a Virginia creeper and a japanese honey suckle and a english ivy also have another typical garden vine I forget what it's called but yeah the creepers are about 2 or 3 years in and the others are about a year in
Keep us posted Mike, I would love to see photos of your progress. 👍
That looks beautiful
Thank you Tima, I appreciate your lovely comment! :-)
Ppl say oh that's not a bonsai or that type of plant isn't a bonsai style plant well folks you can turn anything and I mean anything into a bonsai that has a woody stem and is a perennial it might not always turn out show worthy but these can as well as many other under utilized plants
Thanks Mike, I agree the hobby should ultimately be about having fun with nature and if you can get satisfaction from creating interesting bonsai out of “non-standard” material then that’s all well and good in my book. Thanks for your comment. Andy
Amazing!!!!!! 💚 i wonder my little ivy can grow like this ?! 🤪 i wish i could see the process too though haha anyways, It is beautiful!!🥰 im really looking forward to see your jade plant becoming bonsai tree too 🤞🏼🤞🏼
You can do it! I will do a more detailed how-to.. thanks for your nice comment. :-)
I have a pia ivy tree. I'm going to try that, thank you
Let me know how you get on.
How to prune ivy to grow thick branches, thanks!
Hey Andy! I just bought a young english ivy, and am starting down this journey. Can I see what yours looks like now? Cheers!
Yes you can!
This is exactly what I wanted to know.
Glad to be of help! :-)
You have no idea how much I appreciate your video! I’ve been working on one for several years but have had allot of struggles. I’m propagating it (which has been a bit harder than I thought it would be.)
I have a successful one in my house since 2 years ago! Not sure if my trunk will Thicken as quickly as yours did. Maybe it’s because I’m not trimming it?
Not sure. It also has been turning a little bit more lime green instead of the dark green. I was just thinking maybe it’s in too much light. I have it in a south facing window.
I have a cluster of Ivey that I have propagated and I am attempting to grow it in the ground for a while. Controlled. It has some pieces of board around it. Attempting to somewhat control the roots. I was trying to get it to grow up the wall and then I would cut it down every 1 to 2 years to encourage the trunk to grow. So far however it is not attaching to the wall for some reason.
I insist on propagating it because I want it to be taken from my parents house. It’s where I grew up and it was always completely covered with Ivey, which I always felt was so magical. So this will be a family heirloom that I hope to give to my grandkids as a bonsai. ❤️
Anyway, your video gives me a lot of encouragement! I really appreciate it!
Wow that's awesome! thanks for sharing your story with me. It might be too small to start climbing, from my observations they seem to be pretty good at holding themselves up for the first several inches so I just left it to grow without support. It might be worth noting that I've always kept my Ivy outside, I don't think there would be enough humidity inside to keep it happy full time. All I have done is put it in a bigger pot every few years and trimmed the growth every three months or so, as long as it is growing strongly the base will thicken, I think I could have got it a lot thicker by now by leaving it in the ground but it's done OK so I'm happy with it. :-) If you have Instagram I would ove to see a photo of yours, you can find me @HouseplantHacks
@@HouseplantHacks Okay good to know! What state are you in? I’m in Utah and we get pretty cold winters, I’m sure I’d have to protect it if it was outside in a pot. I’ll definitely look you up on Instagram. My page is @fairylandscaping and I do have a few things about my Ivey on there. 👍😊
@@sillyme8342 I've replied to you on Instagram so you can see my Ivy last week in the snow! It's pretty hardy so I don't think you would have an issue, it would probably be harder to keep it from drying out in the summer.
thats amazing!
Thank you! Glad you like it.
Really nice. I have an ivy plant in my room and wondered if I can grow it to a bonsai tree. The thing is i have absolutely no knowledge in growing bonsais. I will try anyway tho 😄
Give it a go, all you need to o is start with the structure like I show with the small plant, then remove the leaves and branches that dont fit with the shape that you want. The key thing is time, they are quite slow growing so it will take some time, but I hope you enjoy the process.
looks cool
Thank you Inna. :-)
Do you keep it inside? I looked up Ivey bonsai and you popped up first I have the thumbs up and subscribed because that is awesome that I found exactly what I wanted!
Thank you for subscribing! No, I keep it outside most of the year where it is most happy, I can bring it inside sometimes to enjoy it but most of the year it lives outside, even under the snow in the winter!
Update on this plant?
I have one like this 🌳😅
Awesome! I’d love to see some photos, you can do me on Instagram. 😁👍