Welcome to the new year and another vase on a Monday, the inspiring meme hosted by the charming Cathy! This week my vase features the fruit of ivy which never fails to fascinate me…or the birds and bees for that matter. The flowers are highly fragrant and if you have an ivy in your garden (it’s a must!), you know the humming at flowering time when wasps, hornets, hoverflies, bumblebees, red admirals, small tortoiseshells and peacock butterflies, and other late-flying insects, come to drink the nectar.
Later birds, such as blackbirds and thrushes, eat the berries or the likes of me pinch some for decorating. Ivy also offers shelter at nesting time – a truly wonderful plant! Only nature can create something as beautiful and perfect as this fruit! So why can’t I come up with an appropriate title? Hmmm…what about ‚having a ball‘? Well, in any case I do hope you had a ball over the festive season, but not too big a ball, just a modest, happy one. 😉 Wishing you all the best in 2017! Don’t forget to visit Cathy’s blog to check out all the other vases of my talented blogger friends.
Annettes Garten / Annette's Garden 
Not sure I’ve ever seen ivy in flower Annette. Lovely to focus on something so generous for so many creatures. Happiness to you in the coming year.
many happy returns, Susie, I just love simplicity and this time of year makes it easy to focus on things which may otherwise go unnoticed
We have mature Ivy by the front gate, it is amazing!
Front gate sounds great to me, Pauline, house wall is trickier.
Oh, I have never noticed ivy flowers being fragrant – what have I missed all these years?!! I love them too but I perhaps I will love them even more once I have smelt them! Best wishes to you and Monsieur for 2017
oh yes, they smell sweetly, I love it and thing they all do no matter which species or variety – best wishes to you too xx
That’s definitely something new to me – thank you for that
Ivy is very underrated isn’t it? I need to plant some here and help it establish. I love the round fruits
absolutely, it seems to have a bad reputation as it can get into cracks of walls but you don’t have to plant it near the house, another advantage is their drought-resistance
Hi Annette, I just found your blog at Rambling in the Garden!
I have never noticed the fruits of ivy, to be honest, and I have to agree they are quite beautiful.
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to cut more flowers from the garden for the house and ivy is such a good filler green. I don’t have ivy currently in my garden, but your post might have just inspired me to plant one.
Best wishes for 2017!
Warm regards,
Christina
Hi Christina, ivy grows wild around here and in our garden too but not each one produces such fab fruit, they just sprang out from the hedge, couldn’t resist 😉
Yes, it’s a wonderful plant and I found some berries this week so they will be making their way into a vase.
look forward to that, Alison 🙂
Beautiful photo as always Annette. Our ivy has been almost stripped of berries by wild birds… Field Fares I think.
thanks, Gillian, just noticed one these days, they’re rather shy around here but so pretty
Lovely, and unique…Michelle
I was surprised when I found ivy blooming and absolutely abuzz with bees in a wild-ish area of our back slope along the boundary with our neighbor’s property. Ivy is considered an invasive plant here but that discovery dramatically changed my view of the plant’s value – I’d never seen ivy bloom before, much less produce berries. Best wishes for a happy new year, Annette!
I think people don’t notice it because it’s so „common“ and as for invasive, I think the only species I’d call invasive is man 😉
Ivy is one of my favourite plants but I struggle to keep it in my garden as both my gardener and my husband treat it as an enemy and cut it back whenever I am not looking! Your photo is beautiful – happy new year to you. xx
what a pity, Julie, such a useful plant – wishing you a happy new (garden) year too x
I too use ivy in flower arranging since I grow it. You are right too, birds even nest in it.
I never think to use ivy flowers, as the ground cover sort never seems to flower and the ones climbing our trees are too high for me to reach! (Maybe that is why I have never smelt it, but I have seen and heard the insects on it). It does look lovely in arrangements though. 🙂
as they grow wild everywhere round here, I’m sure to find some at nose height 😉 the way the leaves change their shape when they mature is also intriguing by the way
Thank you for sharing this subtle beauty, Annette 🙂 It is always wonderful to be reminded to look more closely at plants which we think we know… I don’t think it will grow in the desert however… 😉
Guess it won’t, Amy, but no doubt they’re many other treasures around where you live 🙂
Gorgeous pic Annette .. best wishes right back at you 😃
thanks, Julie, very cold here so I’m dreaming of kiwi summer 😀
Ivy is fabulous Annette both as an evergreen and also for those flowers which as you point out are a pollinator magnet and a bird sanctuary. It’s a shame that it has such a bad reputation for being a thug. Wishing you and the Monsieur all the very best for the New Year! xxx