This week’s plant choice is the Pia Tree Ivy…
There’s something so peaceful and relaxing about having plants inside your home. I love the look of plants tucked into the corners of a room, displayed on coffee tables and kitchen counters, and gracing bathroom vanities.
Plants help a room feel grounded.
I especially love unique plants. Plants that act as conversation starters, and not something you see everywhere you go.
I’m always on the look-out for unique plants, and with this new series on my blog, I’ll share my latest finds with you. Here’s the latest find…
The links in this post may contain affiliate links. I’ll receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link. I only write about and share things that I actually use and enjoy.
Fatshedera lizei pia (“Pia Tree Ivy”)
I had never seen this plant before finding it at a plant shop this week, and I am in love with it!
I’ve always liked the leaf shape of ivy, but had only seen the plant in the classic vining form before. This tree ivy is quite an oddity. It’s a hybrid of two different plants – a shrub called “Fatsia” and an English ivy called “Hedera”).
About the Plant
As I mentioned above, the Fatshedera lizei pia “Pia Tree Ivy” is a hybrid plant. It is sometimes called “Curly Tree Ivy”.
The leaves have a classic ivy shape with five to seven lobes, but they curl on the edges and are very wavy, giving the leaves a very unique look. The leaves grow on a trunk like a tree and are very full and lush. The leaves can grow up to 8-inches wide, so growing upright like a tree makes this a perfect floor plant.
The best lighting for this plant is a bright indirect light. If the light is too low, the fullness of the leaves thins out and the plant looks pretty sparse. If the light is too bright (direct sun), the leaves can become sunburned.
Make sure to keep the tree ivy soil consistently moist, but definitely not soggy.
The tree ivy can grow to around 4-feet to 6-feet tall.
This plant is toxic to humans and animals.
Why I Love It
I love the shape of the wavy, curled leaves and the fact that this ivy grows as a tree. I think it’s very unique, and a plant that is sure to catch the attention of those who pass by it.
I also love that this is an easy-to-grow and care for plant. I look forward to watching mine grow!
Where to Buy
I bought my tree ivy at Lowe’s for $3.98 in a 3″ pot. You can also find this plant in the variegated form online at 9EzTropical on Etsy for $34.88 in a 1 gallon pot (1-2-feet tall).
If you have more suggestions for unique or unusual plants, please leave a comment below.
I’ve been searching for this plant; I’m going to go to Lowe’s today to look for it. I had one years ago that I had bought at a local greenhouse. I had read that you can graft ivy into it because it’s part Hedera. I made the prettiest little ivy tree by grafting four different kinds of ivy onto the stem of the Fatshedera. I had that thing for years but left it outside too late one winter and it froze. So now I’m trying to find another one. Thanks for the tip!
I hope you end up finding this plant, Judy!
The ivy tree you had sounds really interesting – very cool that you grafted it like that. I’ve left plants out too late in the season, too, so I know how heartbreaking that is. If you end up creating a new ivy tree, I’d love to see photos of it.
I found one at Lowe’s today! Thanks to your blog. I’ll have to grow it for a few years I think, before I can graft anything into it. It’s just in a little 3” pot.
Yay! I’m really happy to hear you found your plant! Here’s to many years of successful growing!
Is it normal for it to have a dusty/powder look? I can’t find anything to explain what is on it? Thank you
Hi Anthony – It sounds like your plant might have powdery mildew – a fungus that can infect houseplants. Ivy plants are known for getting this.
One way to remove this fungus from the plant is to use Neem Oil. Make sure to spray the top and bottom of each leaf and wipe the leaves off. This will remove the fungus and the spores of the fungus.
To prevent powdery mildew, avoid getting the leaves wet when watering the plant, and avoid misting the leaves. Good air flow is also important around plants to help prevent mildew.
I highly recommend you isolate the plant from any others until the powdery mildew is gone, otherwise the fungus can spread to other plants. Also make sure to wash your hands and tools very well after dealing with powdery mildew to help prevent the spread.
I hope this information helps – good luck with your plant!
Hey Judy,
I’m really curious about grafting other hedera varieties to the x Fatsedera – do you have any tips on how to start?
I just found one at Walmart for $2.21 Half price. About 6 inches tall. It was grown by Costa farms… Exotic Angel plants.
I wish u had mine here! I’ve got to get rid of it. The tree is beautiful, needs to be re-poted as it has outgrown its pot already. But it can not come back inside. I have house cats and just see where it’s toxic to animals. I hate to trash it but I have no one to re home it to. 🙁
Hi Donna –
Your plant sounds wonderful! Perhaps you could rehome your plant at a nursing home or hospital?
I completely understand your concern about toxic plants and cats. We have three cats of our own and we foster rescued kittens as well. We also have over 300 houseplants throughout our house, so safety is a big concern. Thankfully our cats all leave the plants alone – except they DO love the Ponytail Palms (which are pet safe).
If cats ingested a lot of the tree ivy plant, it can result in vomiting, abdominal pain, excessive salivation, and diarrhea. Chewing a small portion of the leaves would likely not cause any major issues. This information is from the ASPCA (https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/17-plants-poisonous-pets).
IF you want to keep your plant, perhaps these ideas MIGHT help you.
While every cat/kitten is different, there are ways you can deter them from bothering with plants. Our cats dislike citrus so I spritz a mixture of lemon essential oil on plants I want to keep them from – this works very well. You can also just use the juice of a lemon mixed with water as the spray. There are also bitter sprays you can buy for this very purpose – that are, of course, safe for pets.
I also keep a small pot of wheatgrass in the area where we feed our cats so they have something to chew on. I really believe this helps keep them away from the other plants, and they love the wheatgrass. I keep two pots going all the time – one for them to chew on, and the other to grow more grass. When one pot is done, the other pot has grown enough to give to the cats, and I start a new batch in the finished pot and repeat.
Some plants, like lilies, are deadly to pets – so I would never use these methods for those kinds of plants. As a matter of fact, I personally avoid those kinds of plants in our home situation (just not worth the risk).
Of course, pet safety is far more important than keeping a plant. I just wanted to provide this information in case you find it helpful.
I hope you find a good home for your tree ivy! Best of luck to you!
i have one of these plants in my office and is doing well. However, it has grown very tall straight up and seems to want to lean. Would you suggest a larger pot or just a stick to hold it up?
Thanks for any input!
Hi Mandy!
When I have plants that get tall and start leaning, I use natural bamboo poles to help the plant stay upright.
You can find these bamboo poles at most garden centers or home improvement centers (in the garden area). The poles are only about 1/4-inch diameter, but they are strong, and they come in a variety of lengths.
For a Pia Tree Ivy, I’d put the pole into the center of the pot and push it down as far as it will go – as close to the main “stem” of the plant as possible. You might hit roots, but the pole won’t hurt them. If the plant leans on the pole and doesn’t feel like it will topple over, you don’t even have to tie the plant to the pole. But, if the plant doesn’t seem to want to lean on the pole, you could use a twist tie around the plant stem and around the pole – just keep it fairly loose and the twist tie won’t hurt the plant. These bamboo poles are small enough that the plant usually hides them from view.
I hope this helps!
I know you can’t post images here as a comment, but if you have a link to your plant photo, I’d love to see it!
You say the plant is toxic. Is the to touch cause I have bought it for my wife and would hate for her to get sick
Hi Richard –
The Tree Ivy is toxic if ingested, otherwise it is not known to cause problems when touched or when just being near the plant.
I hope your wife enjoys her plant! Stay well!
Just got one of these cuties at Walmart last night for $2.94!
What an awesome score!!! Thanks for sharing that!
I hope you enjoy watching your plant grow.
Does the pia tree ivy have some kind of naturally occurring brown/white dusty flecking-type stuff on the leaves? That’s as eloquent as I can describe it. I just got one and it the stems and leaves are covered tops and undersides. I fear that it’s a pest, but have seen others describing something similar. Thanks!
Hi Kati – thanks for your note.
In my experience, I have not seen any naturally occurring brown/white dusty specks on the leaves. Without seeing your plant, what you’re describing sounds like powdery mildew, which is a fungus that does attack trees, or possibly an infestation of mealybugs.
Powdery mildew starts with small white spots – on the leaves or stems – that almost look like flour on the leaves. This fungus can cause the leaves to become deformed, turn yellow, and dry out. If this is powdery mildew on your plant, you could spray the infected parts with neem oil. This usually controls the mildew from spreading and helps to clear it up.
The white dusty flecking-type stuff might also be mealybugs. These bugs look like little pieces of cotton and they’re usually found where the leaves stem from the branches. Mealybugs literally suck the sap out of a plant and leave behind a brownish/black fungal growth. Neem oil or isopropyl alcohol applied directly on the mealybugs can help control them.
I would make sure to keep your plant away from other plants until you have the issue under control.
I hope this information is helpful. If you have additional questions, let me know and I’ll continue to try to help.
Wishing you the best of luck with your Pia Tree Ivy!
Mine has this also and it is NOT powdery mildew. I have been trying for ages to discover if this is a natural feature or not, but it is mentioned a few times in this feed so I am wondering if it is? I wish I knew!
Hi Rachel –
I’ve not seen this plant have a white powder/dusty look to the leaves naturally. The leaves of this plant are naturally a slightly glossy green.
Without seeing photos of the leaves of your plant (or photos of the other comments here as well), it’s hard to diagnosis exactly what the powdery/dusty coating is.
Powdery mildew is fairly common on ivy leaves, so that is my first guess (again, without seeing photos).
Another cause that would make the leaves look powdery/dusty could be mineral deposits from hard water used to mist the plant, or even from watering the plant if the water lands on the leaves.
Another thing that could cause a powdery/dusty look to the leaves could be mealybugs. Though mealybugs are typically found on the undersides of leaves, they can also cover the tops of leaves.
One more thing could actually be black, sooty mold. This would leave a white dusty look with dark grey or black splotches. Black mold is a fungus that grows on the sugary sap left by pests such as aphids, mealybugs, and scale. Usually, this sooty mold indicates the plant has an insect infestation (or had one). A mild soapy water mix will remove this sooty mold, as will an insecticidal soap.
If you’d like to share a photo of your plant, I’d be happy to take a look and see if we can figure out what the problem is. You could provide a link to your photo within a comment here, or post a photo on my Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/JayDeesBlogPage/
I hope this helps!
I’ve had my tree ivy for awhile now, it’s 6 1/2 feet tall it’s touching my ceiling. I have low ceilings so I think I might have to give it up. It’s beautiful though!!
Oh don’t give it up! Just chop it down, I bet it would tolerate that. I mean, chop it off so it’s just about 2 feet tall or whatever height you want. Maybe repot it and trim the roots back kind of like a bonsai tree. Worth a try.
Gloria, your plant sounds amazing! I bet it’s beautiful.
I like your idea of trimming the tree to height, Judy. I’m sure that wouldn’t hurt the plant at all.
I did it years ago, and had a cute little ivy tree for years, until I left it out in the cold and it froze! I must’ve read it in a book. Basically, you take a fatshedera plant and cut it off at the trunk, I think mine I cut so it was about about 6 inches tall, and make an x in the top of the trunk and take four different varieties of ivy (hedera helixj and maybe cut the stems on a diagonal so the pieces you’re going to stick in the x are tapered, stick them in and wrap with thread or maybe tape to keep them tightly in there, and keep the plant moist. I know there’s such a thing as grafting wax, that you could wrap around the joined place to keep it protected. It’s kind of hard to describe without pictures. The ivy takes readily to the fatshedera since they’re “related,” and they grow. I’m still growing my fatshedera so it’ll have a thicker trunk; I’d like it to be at least a half-inch in diameter. When I do it I’ll take pictures but it’ll be a while.
I just got one from Lowes for $4.38. I pray this is easy to care for. How long got does it take to start growing rapidly?!!! I’m very excited.
That’s a great price, Dee!
My tree ivy hasn’t grown too much over the Winter, but now that there are more daylight hours, it’s really starting to take off! There are new leaves coming in, and it’s getting taller now, too. Probably like most plants in the Winter, it went into a rest period of slower growth. But I’m excited to see it starting to grow more again. In my experience, this plant isn’t a fast-grower – more of a moderate grower.
I hope your tree ivy grows well this Spring!
Chasing down all these leads! Never have found one at Walmart, will go to Lowe’s today. Starting to collect different kinds of ivy to graft onto it. Found an interesting one at Walmart with very long narrow leaves, called Spearpoint Ivy. So not a wasted trip 😀.
Thanks Dee! I went right over to Lowe’s and found one today. I’m excited, too!
I jst found these at walmart in 3” pots. I purchased three since I fell in love with the look before knowing what they were and $2.84 couldn’t resist. Should I plant each one in its own pot or put all three together? Thanks for your help.
Awesome score, Linda!
You ask a really good question about planting. I think it really comes down to personal preference whether you plant all three together in one pot or in separate pots.
Personally, part of the allure of this plant for me is the tree form as the plant matures. For that reason, I like having one plant in a pot at a time.
I think if you were to put three together in one pot, the pot/planter would obviously look much more full, but you might lose the overall shape of the tree. If you don’t mind that and want a fuller-looking planter, planting three together certainly would work – just make sure your pot/planter is large enough to accommodate the plant as it grows.
Another idea would be to plant all three in a rectangle-shaped planter with spacing between the plants. This would allow you to still see the individual tree form of each plant, yet have them all together. As the plants mature, you could move them to a larger rectangle-shaped planter. This shape of planter would look nice on a stand behind a couch or loveseat and would be sort of a focal point.
Here’s to happy growing!
I just bought one and paid 32.00 Cdn at a local nursery. At 6” high It is very attractive. I was wondering if I could make it into a topiary shaped tree? Thanks
Sounds like you found a great deal, Sandra!
I think a topiary for this plant sounds very interesting.
Since this plant has a columnar, upright growth, I think a topiary could work. In my experience, the leaves don’t get extremely dense (like a boxwood would), so it might be more challenging to form a small topiary shape, but something like a spiral would work.
If you decide to create a topiary, I would love to see the end result! Have fun!
How do i get mine to fill out? She’s gotten about 10″ tall but only has leaves on the top 1-2″ section.
Hi Bonnie –
I have a small pia ivy that is like that as well. I have to admit, it WAS very full of leaves, but I placed it (temporarily) among other plants that I don’t water as often, and then forgot I put it there. It didn’t get watered as often as it should have, and it shed a lot of lower leaves.
To help this plant, I watered the plant well, fertilized it, and then put it under a glass cloche. I set that cloche about 6-feet from full southern windows (so it’s in bright, indirect light). The leaves started popping out again like crazy after just a couple of weeks. The very lower portion of the plant still has no leaves, but the top part is growing very fast now and the middle section is starting to fill in as well.
If you have a glass cloche, I would definitely recommend giving that a try. The added warmth and humidity is what I think is causing this growth spurt. I’m sure the fertilizer helped, too.
I hope this helps! Post back with an update on your plant.
This appears to be an old post but I purchased a small Pia Tree Ivy from Lowe’s a couple weeks ago. I fear I may have overwatered it because the top stem & leaf is starting to droop. The plant has a small wick that extends from the bottom of its pot. I placed it in a dish & added a few ice cubes to melt so it could absorb the water up through the wick. Is it too late to save it? What should I do?
Hi Lisa –
In my experience with this plant, it definitely needs more water than most plants – and will droop when not watered enough.
You mentioned you had put ice cubes in a dish for bottom watering this plant – how long did the water last? My guess is, there wasn’t enough water.
If your house has a normal to dry humidity range, you’ll likely need to water this plant at least once a week. The soil should be consistently moist, but not soggy.
One thing I found that really helps my smaller Pie Tree Ivy plants is to put them under a glass cloche or to wrap a clear plastic bag around the plant. This raises the humidity level and helps the plant from drying out.
Usually once you add more water, the plant will stop drooping. I don’t think it’s too late to save it!
One more thing… you said you bought this a couple weeks ago. If the outside weather was less than 50-degrees at the time, and if this plant was exposed to the cold for more than a minute or two, the drooping MIGHT be caused by cold shock. This would normally show up sooner than 2 weeks, so again, it’s more likely that it just needs more water.
Keep me posted! I hope you have great luck with this plant, and I hope this information helps.
This is a new plant for me and I don’t have a lot of room I didn’t realize how it would grow. I Love the leaves and the plant. Can it be a hanging plant
Hi Glenda – This is a fun plant!
Sure, you could put this in a hanging pot, but it does grow upright and won’t hang (vine) over the sides of your pot like a typical hanging vine plant would do. Eventually, this plant will get quite tall, so at that point, it would have to be either moved out of a hanging pot or the hanging pot might have to be adjust to accommodate the tall growth. I hope this helps! I’d love to hear back from you once you get it potted up to hear how it went.