Grow and Care for Swedish Ivy

Grow Swedish ivy in bright light, in mix that drains, and water when the top inch feels dry. Hang the basket so the stems can trail. Swedish ivy is Plectranthus verticillatus, a mint-family trailer. It is not a true ivy.

Give it bright light, and water when the top inch is dry

Swedish ivy is a trailing mint-family plant with rounded, scalloped, glossy leaves. Give it bright light indoors, and water when the top inch of mix feels dry, because a soggy saucer is the usual reason roots rot. Outdoors, keep the pot in shade; direct sun burns the foliage. [1] An east or west window is a good home. Morning sun is fine; hot afternoon glass scorches the leaves. [2] If lower leaves yellow and drop, water less. In summer, water more often if the hanging basket dries fast, then go drier once growth slows. [3]

1. Set the pot in bright light. Move it off hot afternoon glass if the leaves bleach or crisp.
2. Water when the top inch of mix feels dry. Soak the mix, let extra water run out, and empty the saucer.
3. If lower leaves yellow and drop, water less. If the whole plant wilts and does not recover after you water, the roots have likely rotted; take cuttings from the healthiest tips and discard the wet parent.

Hang it in a draining basket, and pinch the tips

Swedish ivy looks best in a hanging basket, where the stems can trail. Use a pot with a drainage hole. Pinch the growing tips so the plant branches instead of running as a few long, bare stems. You can pinch at any time of year. After the small flowers fade, pinch those stems back too. The plant tolerates a hard cut if it has gone leggy.

1. Choose a hanging basket or pot with a drainage hole. Fill it with mix that drains, and set the plant at the same depth it grew in the nursery pot.
2. Hang it where the stems can fall freely, in bright light out of hot afternoon sun.
3. Pinch or snip the soft tips just above a leaf pair when you want a fuller crown. Cut a long bare stem back to a leafy node.
4. Wait to repot until the basket is crowded, then move up one size in spring in fresh mix that drains.

Root the pinched tips as new plants on How to Propagate Swedish Ivy.

Bring it in before a freeze, and water less in winter

You can summer the basket outdoors in shade after frost is gone. Bring it indoors before a freeze. It can take a short dip near 40°F, but a freeze kills it. Once growth slows, water less and stop heavy feeding, because a wet mix in a cool room rots the roots. Some leaves drop after the move. That is common. Keep the mix barely moist, and wait for new growth in spring.

Not a true ivy — and not the lawn weed called creeping Charlie

Swedish ivy does not cling to walls. It is a mint-family trailer, native to southern Africa, not Hedera. True ivy climbs with aerial roots — see How to Grow English Ivy. Shops also call this plant creeping Charlie. That nickname is the lawn weed Glechoma hederacea, a hardy ground ivy with kidney-shaped leaves and violet flowers. If you are trying to kill a lawn weed, you do not have this houseplant.

Coleus is a related mint grown for painted leaves — see How to Grow Coleus. Swedish begonia is another shop name; it is not a begonia — see How to Grow Begonias. German ivy is Delairea, a different hanging vine. Mona Lavender is another Plectranthus, grown for bloom, not this scalloped trailer. Confirm the tag is Plectranthus verticillatus (also sold under the misapplied name P. australis). [4]

If the mix stays wet, empty the saucer and wait until the top inch is dry. If the stems go long and bare, move the basket into brighter light and pinch the tips.