Higher up in the hedge where the sun gets to warm and shine, berries ripen. The Bryony (Bryonia dioca) become jewel like as they become a delicious red.
Bryony berries hanging high in the hedge.
The flowers of our Common Ivy (Hedera helix) are starting to come out. The scent of them is strangely wild, a mixture of muskiness with very slight high fruit tones and tangy yet seminal mid tone. Scent is a difficult thing to describe and do justice to. But next time you pass by a flowering ivy get close up and take a sniff see what you think.
The scent attracts many flying insects who depend upon the nectar and pollen of the Ivy. It is an important food plant especially for Bumble Bees.
Ivy only flowers in what is called the arboreal stage. A very mature stage in the growth of Ivy, occurring when it reaches the upper limit to which it can grow.
Ivy passes through three stages:
- Immature, when it is putting on a lot of growth to cover distance and height as much as it can. Leaves are smallish at this stage.
- Mature, when it has covered or climbed the area it is trying to colonise. Leaves are larger and if it is one of the ornamental forms, the leaves are often at their best for colour.
- Arboreal, or tree like, occurs when it has reached the ultimate height it can climb. The top growth grows up on thickish self supporting stems which then begins to flower and produce the blackish berries, usually in winter.
Unusual plants can be produced if cuttings are taken from the arboreal stage. They are a bit harder to strike. Plants will slowly grow into tree like specimens that will flower every year and produce berries. The practice of growing tree Ivies was more common in the Victorian era of gardening.
A small fly sampling the nectar on an Ivy flower (Hedera Helix).
14th September 2008
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