Gold Child Ivy

Hedera helix ‘Gold Child’

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 5a-9b Find Your Zone

Plant Type: Evergreen Vine

Height at Maturity: 5-6″ when used as a groundcover

Width at Maturity: Depends on pruning
Spacing: 18″ for mass plantings

Growth Habit / Form: Dense, Spreading/Trailing

Growth Rate: Slow when young, Moderate to Fast when established

Flower Color: –

Flower Size: –

Flowering Period: –

Flower Type: –

Fragrant Flowers: –

Foliage Color: Shades of Green, Grey, Yellow and Gold

Fragrant Foliage: No

Berries: No

Berry Color: –

Sun Needs: Sun, Morning Sun w/Dappled or Afternoon Shade, All Day Filtered Sun or Dappled Shade, Full to Mostly Shade

Water Needs: Average, low when established

Soil Type: Clay, Loam, Sand (amended), Silt

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Well-Drained Moist

Soil pH: 5.5 – 6.5 (Acid to Slightly Acid)

Maintenance / Care: Low to Average

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Deer – more info, Drought, Heat, Insect, Rabbit, Shade

Description

Splashed with yellow, gold, white and shades of gray, ‘Gold Child’ is one of our favorites among all ivy varieties and is equally at home in the outdoor landscape as it is indoors. Makes a very pretty carpet in the landscape and is very nice spilling of edges of pots, planters and other containers.

The 3 to 5 lobed leaves of Gold Child Ivy have rounded tips and are handsome shades of grey and green with a bright golden-yellow margin. That said, the brightness of the variegation will depend on temperatures. In cooler temperatures the color is a very intense gold but in warmer weather the color can be a creamy butter yellow. The color is also more intense with more sun, though the variegation is equally as prominent in the shade.

Landscape & Garden Uses

Growing 5 to 6 inches tall and trailing to form a dense, evergreen carpet, Gold Child Ivy is ideal for use as a houseplant or as a groundcover in landscape borders. It is an excellent soil stabilizer on embankments, hillsides and slopes for erosion control. Its vines cling to and climb brick, stone, wood and other walls with porous surfaces, creating an attractive “live wall.” Excellent for use as topiary or a spiller plant in pots, hanging baskets, window boxes, planters and other containers that can be situated indoors or outdoors.

Suggested Spacing: 18 inches for mass plantings

How To Measure Total Square Feet Of A Planting Area

How Many Plants Needed To Cover A Planting Area?

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5a, where this Ivy plant is not reliably winter hardy, you’ll be happy to know it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Growing Preferences

Gold Child Ivy is easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil of average to low fertility and sun or shade. Coloration is best with more sun however some afternoon shade or filtered sun is best in the deep South. Established plantings are very drought tolerant. Constantly soggy soils or standing water is problematic. Prune as desired.

When planting outdoors plant ivies deep. Remove several of the lower leaves and plant to a depth to the new lowest leaves. Ivies will root along this new stem allowing the ivy to better establish itself.

Caution: Ivy plants can be invasive so make sure to control their spread when growing near woodland areas.

Helpful Articles

Click on the link below to find helpful advice from our experts on how to plant, prune and fertilize Ivy plants.

How To Plant, Grow & Care For Ivy

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