Three Cheers for Ivy

A guest post by Jessica Taylor aka Loadofolbobbins

This is a guest post by Jessica Taylor.

The sun is shining, my bird pals are flying to and from the feeders in a blur of suet pellets and seeds and I'm sat in my garden, surrounded by a glorious mass of lush green ivy. Unfortunately though, that's not all I'm surrounded by. We live mid-terrace, so of course there are neighbours. And that would be fine, except these are not just any kind of neighbour. These are neighbours who wish death on all living things. These are neighbours who have plastic grass! As you can imagine, our love of ivy is not shared by said neighbours. Should a single leaf ever venture its way over the divide, it is swiftly cut off and shoved back over our fence. Now, as sad as I find it, these neighbours are perfectly within their rights to do this and so we have coexisted, however begrudgingly, for many years. 

However, one morning during lockdown in 2020, after following some odd noises coming from outside, we discovered the ivy that used to trail along the passageway of our house was now decidedly right in the middle of it. In a fit of pique, our neighbour had pushed it so hard that they broke our trellis and shoved it right up against our dining room window. It felt horrible to have our space so angrily invaded, especially when it was providing solace in such awful times.

And all because of a few stray leaves. 

Thankfully, there is still plenty of ivy in our garden, doing its bit to help wildlife thrive (and providing what feels like an even more important screen between us and our neighbours), but this event really got me thinking. Why is ivy such an underrated and overlooked plant, so often considered a bit of a weed?

So I started investigating and, to put it bluntly, ivy is amazing. It sustains and supports so much incredible and important wildlife. Bees, butterflies, moths, birds and, of course, the incredibly rare (and fancily-named) golden hoverfly can’t get enough of it. The nectar, pollen and berries ivy provides are vital food sources for so many amazing creatures, particularly in those lean autumn and winter months. 

Armed with all these new facts, as well as an even greater love and appreciation for this beautiful plant, I was inspired to start celebrating ivy in my work as an illustrator, creating a brand new jewellery collection called the ‘Ivy League’. It’s my defiant rebuttal to my neighbours’ rage at living things and a joyful way to support and champion nature, with 10% of the sales going to the charity Buglife.

But how do you help and sustain the environment when those directly next to you are so hostile to it? When you live mid-terrace, it certainly isn’t easy. Start by making sure you know your rights - as soon as those loppers of theirs start making their way over your fence and into your garden, a nice (but firm) word or two will hopefully help. They can prune whatever they like on their side, but yours is an absolute no go. Aside from this, remember it’s your space, so try to find joy in it where you can. Plant what you like, and keep it unruly if you want to. Personally, the opinions of the bees, moths and birds around me are way more important to me than the people who live next door. So I say, “down with plastic grass and three cheers for ivy”! 

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Further reading

• There’s a great myth-busting article about ivy by the Woodland Trust. 

• Did you know you can make laundry detergent with ivy leaves?

• Why ivy is so brilliant for wildlife.

• A lovely video about ivy and how helpful it is in autumn and winter.

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About Jess

Jessica Taylor aka Loadofolbobbins, is a textile artist and illustrator who lives by the sea in Portsmouth.  She makes bright, bold and fun sustainable statement jewellery inspired by nature, books and cosplaying pigeons. You can shop her Ivy League collection here.

If you’d like to become a guest writer to The Nature Notice Board, just reply to this email with some info on what you’d like to write about and Zabby will get back to you as soon as she can.