Hint No.1: It's a hardy plant.
Any idea on the mystery plant yet ?
Hint No.2: The leaves in the photo are not what you normally expect on this plant.
And the mystery plant ?
Hint No.3: This is what the leaves usually look like:
Many years ago, my parents had a static caravan in Nottinghamshire. In the hedgerow behind the caravan, Ivy was growing rampantly, so I took a cutting. Ivy is very easy to root as it produces aerial roots. I planted the rooted cutting at the bottom of the garden, on a steep dry bank in dense shade, and it flourished. It has now completely covered the bank. I have often thought about removing it, but it is a magnet for wildlife, so it stays. At the end of the bank, it has clambered up some wire fencing, and where it reaches for the sky, it blooms.
And finally, a quick word about the weather. Summer is coming back. Good news, you may think. Er no, I mean 2012 summer weather. Yes, strong winds and heavy rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. It'll be like old times.
Zięby mają wspaniałą ucztę. Kosy pewno też przylecą, ale może już nie będzie owoców, bo zięby były szybsze. Ja jeszcze nie miałam kwiatów, takich jak na pierwszym zdjęciu, mimo iż ta roślinę mam długo. Pozdrawiam.
ReplyDeleteFinches have a great feast. Scythes also flown sure, but maybe there will be no fruit, because finches were faster. I have not had flowers, such as the first image, although this plant have long. Yours.
Yes, those finches were really enjoying themselves.
DeleteWe've now 'donated' our blueberry bushes to the blackbird after watching him land in front of us & brazenly strip what little fruit we had clear off.
ReplyDeleteWe only bought them for our daughter who decided after 3 years of getting them established that she no longer likes blueberries...grrrr...Kids!!
I only got round to netting one of my blueberry plants this year, so the birds had a banquet. Then a blackbird came along, sat on the netting, made herself comfortable, and ate the berries through the netting. I give up.
DeleteI love outer spacey looking plants. Ivy, I never would have guessed, and that's so interesting about the leaves changing shape.
ReplyDeleteI saw gooseberry plants at the nursery recently and I would love to grow them, but we have a resident family of blackbirds so, hmm, do blackbirds like gooseberries too I wonder, maybe I should rethink that plan...
I've grown a gooseberry bush for several years now, and never had any problems with the birds, probably because the fruit hangs underneath the prickly branches. My dogs, on the other hand, love to take the berries.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteWow I've never seen Greenfinches eating berries like that before - mine just visit the garden but don't seem to hunt through the shrubs like the other birds do.
I wonder if it's a sign they know it's going to be a hard winter if they're already after the berries??
My Cotoneasters are still laden but it won't be long before mine are gone too.
Btw - I knew it was an Ivy. When we lived in Crookes there was a massive Ivy that had slowly made its way up the street over 30 years (according to my neighbour) and the Blackbirds always nested in it and loved the berries :)
I think the greenfinches were having a snack while they waited to get onto the feeders (full of goldfinches.)
DeleteA very familiar sight to me as it covers the wall right outside my dining room window and I have some more further down the garden on the fence. The Blackbirds adore the berries!
ReplyDeleteThe lilies are lovely, I do hope you don't have the dreaded Vine Weevil and that it was something not quite so unfriendly.
I have to repot my lilies every year, otherwise I would lose them to the vine weevil grubs.
DeleteI wish you a better autumn and winter. This has been a crazy weather year so far.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mary, it certainly has been an unusual weather year.
DeleteThe birds look like they are in berry heaven. A lovely lily plant.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the finches came a week too early for the BTO berry survey.
DeleteHello Crystal, ah... I instantly recognised the alien image! I have it here too. I found it growing under my hedge a number of years ago. I pulled it up and planted at the foot of three pergola posts and began training it up. Perhaps it is alien... it went skywards ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for leaving a comment on my blog today and throughout my infrequent postings this past while. I really have appreciated them and am sorry I didn't get to visiting you more often.
I've not been blogging as regularly over the last few weeks. Hopefully I'll get more time now that summer is over, not that summer ever really began this year.
DeleteI was interested in your ivy post. Your first picture as you said, is the adult form (and if you propagate it by cuttings it attains its adult capacity to flower, unlike the juvenile form on your 'normal' picture which does not flower- until it becomes adult!) You might be interested on my most recent post on my own blog where I am quite scathing about the name hederifolium as in Cyclamen hederifolium! Oh I forgot to say, how magnificent ivy flowers are in late winter and how the insects love them.
ReplyDeleteHi Roger,
DeleteThanks for visiting my blog. I've just posted a follow up on the ivy, as it has now just started to flower.