I have programmed tessellation shaders exactly like what you posted, and I don't think it would be useful for this. You're not going to get complex arbitrary 3D detail out of them, just displacement of a surface. With ivy like this, you will have many leaves on top of one another. Of course you can argue that tessellation will make it possible to use many planes with displacement, but that's more a matter of looking for an excuse to use it, rather than it really being an appropriate tool.
You could use a tessellation shader on a surface like this, but it's not going to improve the appearance really. It tends to work best for big chunky details like rocks and bricks.