Off to botany: my creepy friend, the ivy

Maybe I've just seen too many Halloween shockers on TV.

But he always seemed eerie to me, how he climbed the tree trunks with his tentacles, sucked them out, then wrapped the branches in the crown - and thus strangled the tree, slowly but thoroughly.

We are of

course talking about the common ivy (

), which has completely overgrown its victims, a wall and a frail cherry tree, around the corner from us.

I also found it unsightly with its threadbare green flowers.

If the vines dared to advance into my garden, I would tear them out.

Andreas Frey

Freelance writer in the science of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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But it's time for rehabilitation. My attitude towards ivy has changed: I learned to appreciate the evergreen guest. He doesn't strangle anyone, he hugs you. The climbing artist cannot survive otherwise. That is why it is considered a symbol of loyalty and friendship. He's also my friend today, because ivy is the only plant in this unpopular season that reminds me of spring. As one of the late-blooming plants in our latitudes, it gives off a honey-like scent in October, while everything else already smells musty.

This is how ivy becomes a magnet for animals: on sunny days, the wall that I pass through every day hums and hums, once again there is life in this Freiburg bourgeois quarter.

After all, the insects have fun, especially the honey bees, they eagerly suckle from the pale green round buds.

Since reading a message from the Wild Bees Working Group, I think I've discovered a sensation.

I am convinced that I have

spotted

an ivy silk bee (

) in the crowd.

These little animals remained undiscovered for a long time and were only described as a separate species in the 1990s.

Shelter for rare species of bees

The reason is that they look similar to the heather silk bee and the salt silk bee, which is unknown here on the Upper Rhine.

I have to admit that both types are unknown to me.

But I have probably not confused them, because of these three species only ivy silk bees feast on the ivy nectar at this time of the year.

A clearer indication of my spectacular find, however, would have been the rust-red hair on the upper body that is characteristic of ivy silk bees.

Of course, not only rare wild bees can be observed in the ivy, in spring the garden birds peck the blue berries and thus spread the seeds of the survivor.

In addition, the climbing plant offers nesting finches and sparrows as well as protection for small mammals.

But the loyal friend of the animal world and the tree is often prematurely suspected as the cause of any disease, because his work is literally obvious. There are usually completely different reasons for obvious damage. Incidentally, this also applies to house facades, where ivy is a good, ecological thermal insulator, protects against heat in summer and filters fine dust. The ivy on the walls is only unsuitable if the masonry is already damaged, then the adhesive roots crawl into the gaps.

Now, however, the golden autumn is finally coming to an end - because even the ivy in the neighborhood has finally faded, as I discovered a few days ago.

Fortunately, my wife recently brought in two pretty varieties from the concept store: because the ivy is also an ornament indoors, and not just for Halloween.