Ivy

Ivy flowers this morning

Ivy is not a popular plant, at least not with those who favour tidy gardens (unlike me). Wildlife however loves it. Being evergreen, it provides shelter for birds in the winter, and they nest in its dense foliage. It flowers now, providing nectar for insects when there aren’t many other blossoms around, and fruits in late winter providing food for birds when there's nothing else.

The flowers smell rather sickly but they are always buzzing. My wildflower book says it is pollinated by wasps and flies although Nina (‘The Owl and the Pussycat’) says bees love it too. I shall have a good look next time I pass.

The fruit are a striking pale yellow and gladden human hearts at a bleak time of year.

Ivy fruit, seen in February