26 April 2012

. . . it's a jungle out there . . .

. . . i love ivy . . .

{side story: i would have loved to name a child ivy. in four times of expecting a baby, only once did i know the gender of the child before it was born. i always told myself they were boys, because i wanted so badly for them to be girls. we had three girls in a row. seven months into my fourth pregnancy, i had an ultrasound. not because i needed one, but because my husband was going to die if it wasn't a boy. fortunately, it was. so, there went my plan for naming a child ivy, because ivy is a funny name for a boy, plus all my kids' names begin with "a". given the opportunity, i could have made it work, though. something like aye-vee. how's that? PLUS . . . i would totally have called my ivy "four" as in IV in roman numerals}

anyway...................

. . . i love ivy . . .
. . . i have it growing 
in pots on my front porch, 
and in the planter 
under the flowering pear tree . . .
. . . i've always been a sucker 
for the floral 
and houseplant department 
at the grocery store . . .
. . . i wish i knew 
how many times 
i've bought 
a beautiful potted ivy plant 
~ hanging basket, topiary, etc. ~ 
on my weekly 
"grocery" shopping trip . . .
. . . the answer is: quite a few . . .
. . . those plants always look great 
in the kitchen ~ until . . . 
. . . they don't any more . . .

. . . so one time when i had 
several of them that were 
"mostly dead" . . .
{quick! name that movie!}
. . . i tried an experiment . . .
. . . i've got a planter 
between the house and 
the storage/pool bath building . . .
. . . and it only gets 
this much sun every day . . .
{about three or four feet. see?}
. . . so i stuck 
the sad/dying/leggy/trashworthy 
ivy plants in the ground there . . .
. . . about six of them . . .

. . . success . . .
. . . just the right amount 
of sun/shade apparently . . .
. . . because now ivy 
grows like a weed there . . .
. . . since i pruned it last fall, 
it's grown about 12"-18" 
over the sidewalk . . .


. . . surrounding the a/c unit . . .
. . . sending runners 
through the vents . . .


. . . and, i'm no expert, 
but i don't think it's a good idea 
for it to be growing 
inside there . . .


. . . so today was the day . . .
. . . what with this 
probably being the last 
sub-ninety-degree day 
till, oh, i don't know ~ 
say, christmas? . . .
. . . my pruning party 
was even interrupted 
by a little precipitation . . .
. . . how nice is that? . . .


. . . okay ~ rain delay over . . .
. . . back to work . . .


. . . then i turned the corner 
and kept going . . .
. . . the pittosporum 
needed a trim, too . . .


. . . the sidewalk is reclaimed . . .


. . . the air conditioner 
has been freed . . .


. . . and it doesn't look 
like an abandoned property 
any more . . .


. . . the green trash can 
is full to overflowing . . .

{and ~ maybe i can convince one of my children 
to name a little girl ivy}


2 comments:

Peg and Parker said...

Princess Bride, duh! Oh, and Aye Vee would have worked just fine, but I'm glad Drew was born instead. fun post! You rock.

chris+amber said...

Best experiment project ever. It looks amazing and so pretty. I'm a fan of the name Ivy too. Sorry, but you will not be getting an Ivy from me. Weep not, you still have a chance with your other 3 offsprings.