I don’t know if the Ivy blooms are more special this year or if I’ve just had more time to notice their bloom progression. The mountain side I live on is covered by their pale pink beauty and I’ve never seen them as pretty as they are this year.
I always notice the large Ivy when it blooms—it would sort of be hard to miss it, but this year I just can’t get over how many small tiny Ivy are blooming on the bank behind our house.
To find out more about Ivy go here.
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
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Ivy blossoms are very friendly little things. Just brush up against them and they want to go home with you.
Beautiful. Probably because of all the rain we have had. Hopefully we will have plenty of Blackberries too.
They are beautiful this year at our house. When I look out any back window in my house, I see them everywhere. We call them Mountain Laurel here, but it is the same plant.
Beautiful! I am wondering if the plants/shrubs in the North Ga. area are showing out a little extra this spring. I have 2 huge bushes in my yard. They were supposed to be Mock Orange bushes. They were planted in 2012. They are gorgeous, but have never bloomed. I told my husband if they did not bloom this year, they were history. Guess what greeted me one morning? A few tiny white blooms that smelled divine. They will stay for now. Hopefully there will be even more blooms next time. I just don’t know when next time will be… LOL
Perhaps you are noticing because you are home more. Many times a busy life caused me to totally miss the offerings of nature for months. I even changed jobs once to avoid looking at walls 24/7. Then I still found myself so busy I missed lots. The blooming Ivy has to be a welcome change from all the madness in the news. Enjoy! I am a big believer in stopping to smell the roses, and we are truly blessed when we are able to do that.
Those beautiful flowers must be a sight to see. I have heard it’s worth a road trip to NC just to see Ivy in bloom.
Tipper,
We had lots of Laurel Hells at our place in Topton. When the Feists would hear the Chickens squalking at night, it wouldn’t be long before the dogs treed a Posseum. When Me, or Harold, or John would shake that ole Posseum out, he usually never hit the ground. If a chicken got shook out by mistake, the dogs wouldn’t bother it, cause the dogs could see in the dark.
John was older than me and Harold and he had longer arms, making it easier for him to raise the windows in the Wintertime, to gather the eggs. The dogs saw this and wouldn’t bother a chicken atall. Now me and Harold was a different story. When Daddy made us a Bow and Arrow, that was a mistake. We killed many snakes, birds, and Chickens. But we buried the Chickens, cause Daddy would Skin us when he got in from work. …Ken
I was thinking the EXACT SAME THING myself earlier this past week. It seems ivy, roses, Lilac etc. are blooming as well as other plants like hasn’t happened in YEARS! I do think God is telling anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear that HE LOVES US!!!! I think to myself “ What a Wonderful World!”
I’m glad you call it ‘ivy’. That is what I grew up calling it and still like to call it. Mountain laurel is the public name when away from home. Ivy is kinda like how many of us have a family nickname. It makes dandy slingshot stocks as many an Appalachian boy knows.
I’ve probably posted this before, but I did not know until recent years there are several cultivars with fairly wide color variation between them. I have never seen anything in the wild but the usual white and pink though there is variation within those normal colors. Several years ago I planted about nine of a cultivar called ‘Pristine’ that has a pure white bloom. I chose ivy because of shade and drought. I would have thought it would be very hardy but only two have survived. They are growing normally but did not bloom this year.
I am trying to layer some limbs on each of them. Hope it works. Live and learn.
That’s a beautiful picture of our wonderful flower..so delicate looking. Thank God for these mountains and our home in them!