You may not be finding them because State of California is at least discouraging planting them if they have not been added to a prohibited list. If your plants were large enough to begin to climb, they were passing the juvenile stage to one where they would produce berries. Think birds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hedera Helix invasive

I know ivy is invasive, but these two are not invasive because they are weak and they still sell regular Ivy both English and Algerian and so why not these two? Naturally I looked national wide. I think I got them at plant delights. These were never plants that were carried locally at all. But, I think there has to be a reason, I gave them stellar care or so I thought that they all died and I can't replacement them. Like they were too weak to live or had a virus. And all of them died out in stock and they are now extinct. If I am wrong I would still love to buy them, so post me a message.

This post was edited by tropical_thought on Fri, Jun 6, 14 at 0:19

Any fancy leaf or variegated ivy can revert to the species (and many, many do) and then it develops the potential for invasiveness in those locations where it is......like most of California. Which is why they were probably never carried locally.

"stellar care" raises some flags. In California, other than the periodic watering, ivy of any kind requires no care. Is it possible you cared for them to death?? A more common practice than many suspect :-) And neither cultivar is extinct - you can locate them via various mail order sources. Heavily variegated ivy is not as robust as its green cousins and with the limitations on sale of this plant in many areas, it may not be the easiest thing to find.

FWIW, I would never recommend planting any kind of English ivy - variegated, fancy leaf or not - in the ground anywhere along the west coast. Just far too problematic a plant.

Stella care means not neglected and got compost and was weeded. I don't think I over watered them. I don't know.

But, it is not good to say never plant Ivy. I would never plant English Ivy or Algerian, but these were great plants. Ivy can be ok if you can control it, even if I were to plant English ivy, I would be on top of it, and not let it spread. It is only people who don't even go in the garden for months who end up with a huge mess of Ivy. But once it's really out of control it is really hard to get rid of, but these hybrids are totally different. They are not aggressive. I garden every day, I only don't go in the garden if I was sick or maybe if it rained hard all day.

Invasive plants aren't designated as such because of the rate at which they grow, but because they are not native to the area and have spread from tended gardens to natural areas, where they displace natives, using the resources and space the natives once did.

When you no longer live there, who will 'control' these plants?

Wiki:
"Invasive species, also called invasive exotics or simply exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions.

The first definition, the most used, applies to introduced species (also called "non-indigenous" or "non-native") that adversely affect the habitats and bioregions they invade economically, environmentally, and/or ecologically."