Puddin' Man writes:

Hi,

Densely populated urban residential area. Between my little brick
bungalow and the next house. There's some hasta and surprise lilies
out there, but I need ivy. Couldn't figger how to water the hasta
last season (without watering the house walls) with sprinkler, so
I spent way, way too much time standing out there with the garden
hose. Need ivy, willing to sacrifice hasta, etc to get it (if
necessary).

Around the corner is a little wooded easement with lots of ivy.
Can I just snip, say, 10" lengths from there and plant them
by my house? Would potting soil and/or fertilizer be a good idea?
Really need to get this off the ground. I am not knowledgable
re gardening.

Also timing. I am in midwest: avg. hi/lo is now 53/29 F.

I know all about invasive nature of ivy, no warnings necessary.
Maybe half the houses on the block have some ivy and apparently
aren't having difficulty controlling it.

Hasta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The word Hasta may refer to one of the following:

* A Latin word meaning spear.
* A Sanskrit word meaning hand.
* A Nakshatra of Hindu Astrology.
* An Italian city currently known as Asti.

You probably mean Hosta.

Cut off any amount of ivy and stick it in the ground
and it will take off.

I just had a little plant start by itself near my
garage so I thought I'd watch it for a while.
After a few months, I noticed a bit of it
on the inside of my garage, I thought it
worked it's way thru the doorway.
Nope, it went right under the sill plate
into the garage.
It's gone now.

What you really want is pachysandra or vinca.