. . . 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}