In Praise of Ivy

I have a secret to confess - I have a 'thing' about ivy.  Yes, I know, boring old ivy, that has a bad reputation for eating into bricks and mortar and bringing your house tumbling down about your ears.  But I can't get enough of the stuff. 

I use it in the garden to disguise things - like fences (they don't rot so quickly when they have ivy as protection).

It gives a good background for other climbing plants

It grows anywhere and doesn't mind the shade

Here it has grown through the trellis and is starting to disguise the coal bunker

The new leaves are beautifully marked

and come in a variety of colours

I let it trail over the ground where it keeps the weeds down and acts as a mulch to keep plants moist.

The garden would look terribly bare without it, and yes, I do have it growing on the walls of the house, two trims a year keeps it in check.  The birds nest in it, as do insects - and the berries are a good food source for them.  I definitely wouldn't be without it (though I doubt that the beloved would agree when he has to get the ladders out to cut it back and take huge bags of clippings to the tip).  But then there are drawbacks with everything.