Ivy in the garden.

We have a large clump of ivy (Latin name Hedra helix) growing on the perimiter fence near the compost bays.  Many people try to remove ivy thinking that it is unsightly or a nuisance.  It may be unwanted if it is growing on a building but it is an invaluable plant in nature. Like many plants it has two types of growth, slim stems with aerial roots which grip strongly to a surface and help the plant to grow upwards towards light and a more branch like growth which is called Hedra arboresens, this part of the plant flowers and produces fruit containing the seeds.

Ivy is also a very important plant as it flowers in the Autumn providing a rich supply of pollen at a time when many other plants have finished flowering. It then produces fruit in spring as you can see from the photo above. These fruit are a great source of food for birds.

Last Autumn we saw that the ivy had a huge number of butterflies feeding on the flowers. Also wasps, hoverflies and flies were plentiful on the ivy.  These insects themselves are food for birds.
So you see ivy is a very useful plant in the garden.

WHAT OTHER PLANTS HAVE DIFFERENT KINDS OF  LEAVES ON THE SAME PLANT.