My A-Z posts this year
are based on my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies
- with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat
somewhat – wishing they were here.
I – Ilex, Ivy, Iris, Impatiens
The holly and the
ivy, now are both well grown,
Of all the trees that
are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.
 |
| Holly Bush |
I feel quite justified in including holly under ‘I’ as the
Latin name for it is Ilex. Our garden holly bush is well manicured but the
blackbirds have left a berry or two – you just have to look hard enough.
 |
| Holly Berry |
We can’t claim to have an ivy hedge like this:
 |
| Ivy Hedge |
This is the best we can manage growing from next door.
 |
| Ivy 'Hedge' |
Blue Tits (see B) using this nesting box will be happier when
the ivy surrounding it grows to provide a bit more cover.
 |
| Nesting Box |
We have a few blue irises in the garden.
 |
| Blue Irises |
But we had to go to Cornwall
to find some yellow ones.
 |
| Yellow Iris - Cornwall |
Impatiens glandulifera is a grand sounding name but it masks
an invasive species imported to the UK.
 |
| Indian (Himalayan) Balsam |
Fortunately we have none in the garden. It has however
started to swamp some local woods,
These are the impatiens we prefer to see,
 |
| Busy Lizzies (Impatiens) |
These annual plants are available in many colours and bloom non-stop until the autumn. There is no need to get impatient with them.
Poem:
- The Holly and the Ivy – English traditional Christmas Carol
Photo attribution:
- Ivy Hedge - Public Domain Images
- Busy Lizzies – Andrew Fogg; CC BY 2.0.
