Algerian Ivy; aka:
Canary Island Ivy,
North African Ivy,
or Madeira Ivy
"I give to thee great gardens,
with trees & vines in the temple of Atuma"
-Rameses III
(about 1155 BCE)
(about 1155 BCE)
In some parts of the country Algerian Ivy has proven to be invasive, but on Puget Sound it is restrained. It thrives in warm climates, being native of scorching Algeria, Tunisia, Portugal, the Azores, & the Canary Islands.
It is not cold hardy, suffering damage at 10 to 20 degrees F., which for our region is on the cusp of its acceptable range. It needs spring trimming to rid it of leaves that weathered the winter poorly, but we have so very few winter days into the 20s, there's really not any damage. The cold actually seems to do it good from the point of view of not wanting it to spread invasively or choke out nearby plants the way regular English ivy can.
Its evergreen leaves are unusually large, six to eight inches on average. For this reason it has sometimes been called Big Leaf Ivy or even Elephant Leaf Ivy, though its name seems largely by now to have nearly standardized as Algerian Ivy.
The big leaves become bright bronzy red in some winters, then green again in spring & summer. There are a number of variants or cultivars that may not all have the same tendency to bright reds in winter.
Ours was previously in a container on the front stoop, where it had full morning-sun & exposure to winter winds. The root got fully chilled each winter too. When it was still in a container, winter colors were extravagant. But ever since it went into the ground against a big trellis, it has had less sun & better protection against cold & wind, so it has tended to remain green through winter.The second photo was taken February (2002) when it was still potted & the evergreen leaves were extremely red. When I decided to put it in the ground, I had a devil of a time unwinding it from a roofgutter down-spout, where it had begun to wind its way up the wall.
Broadly speaking it is not picky as to sun conditions, doing well in full sun or full shade. In our region it does well in bright shade, though it might prefer full sun merely to maximize warmth. Rainfall provides sufficient water, since it would prefer a slightly drier soil than is the natural average around here.
It grows well as a groundcover, but is also a vigorous climbing vine. After only once being laid into the trellis, ours has continued to climb & spread upward in search of brighter sun, clinging with its own aerial roots.
It seems thus far to be a slow grower, but it's not like it's been in one place a great long while yet. Most ivys are slow to establish before they take off like a house-a-fire. Algerian Ivy can in time spread thirty feet or more, & we've a long stretch of fence it is welcome to cover if it's of a mind to do so.