Through the door

Image: © Jonathan Kington Taken: 6 Mar 2011

Looking from the exit drive through the ivy clad doorway to the upper car park on Greenway Bank Country Park. The Common, or English, Ivy (Hedera helix) is an evergreen climber that can grow to 20-30 metres in ideal conditions such as on walls, trees and rock faces, it will also scramble across the ground and is able to tolerate intense shade. The flowers are small and yellowish-green and produced in small clusters, or umbels, from late summer to late autumn; they are very rich in nectar making them an important autumn food source for bees and other insects. The purple-black berries ripen in late winter, providing a good food source for birds (they are considered poisonous to humans). In the past Ivy has been used as herbal cures for several illnesses and is also closely linked with folklore, some call it the ‘King’ of winter and it has associations with the Pagan god Bacchus. The modern tradition of using Ivy as a Christmas decoration in churches and houses is thought by many Christians to have links with Paganism, although it is more likely that the glossy dark-green winter foliage provides the perfect backdrop for many decorative pieces.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0