Description
Ornamental ivy - Hedera helix ‘Mario’
In a nutshell
Ornamental ivy, Hedera helix ‘Mario’, is a powerful ivy with very large stems bearing broad leaves.
They are shiny, dark green, with very wavy, upward-curving edges, sometimes splashed with cream on young leaves.
This bushy ivy often produces fasciate sports with lobeless, wavy leaves.
History
This cultivar was discovered by Mario Hollmann of the German Ivy Society in the late 1990s. It is a mutation of ‘Stuttgart’.
Technical details - Hedera helix 'Mario'
Botanical information
- Family: Araliaceae
- Genre : Hedera
- Species : helix
- Cultivar: ‘Mario’
- Pierot classification: ivy with wavy-crisped leaves
- Foliage stage: juvenile
- Origin of the species: Europe, from Spain to Norway, but little on the Atlantic coast.
- Origin of cultivar: sport of ‘Stuttgart’ discovered by Mario Hollmann of the German Ivy Society towards the end of the 1990s.
Description of Hedera helix ‘Mario’
- Growth habit: bushy
- Number of lobes: usually 5 lobes
- Leaf length: 8 to 11 cm
- Sheet width: 9 to 13 cm
- Colour of leaf: shiny dark green
- Leaf shape: cross-section
- Colour of veins: green
- Colour of stem and petiole: purple green
- Length of petiole: 2 to 5 cm
- Branches: well branched
- Stems: thick
- Mattress thickness: fairly thick
- Internodes: 1.5 to 3 cm
- Hairs: stellate, 3 to 5 branches
Planting, cultivation and maintenance advice for Hedera helix ‘Mario’
- Exposure: shade, part shade, sun
- Hardiness: -15°C
- Soil moisture: cool soil
- Soil PH: neutral or chalky
- Soil type: all
- Soil richness: ordinary or humus-bearing
- Use: ground cover, pots, window boxes
- Development: vigorous
- Pruning: once a year
- Pests: very rare (spider mites, mealy bugs)
- Diseases: very rare (leaf spots)
Ivy in literature
“The ivy-covered columns still seemed to breathe, as if the roots were feeding off an invisible past.”





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