Butterflies

PS I don't know about the more refined varieties of ivy, but my bog-standard wild one produces loads of flowers. They're not lookers and they smell very rank, I'm afraid, but the butterflies seem to like them. The rather yucky black berries which appear afterwards are favourites with the birds; mistle thrushes seem to be particularly fond of them and will stuff their faces all day long when they're in season.

 

They seem to be the most common of the large butterflies in my neck of the woods, if you ignore the cabbage whites. Mind you, I have a sneaking admiration for the whites, which are apparently able to cross the channel. Blinking foreigners, coming over here, producing loads of hungry kids who pinch our brassicas and trash our gardens ...

 

Its not stupid to ask questions, its intellegence gathering

You probably have missed it flowering as its so late & we're all wrapped up & indoors trying to keep warm.

On the other hand, it only tends to flower when its got to the top of something. Not sure if there are male & femail plants. JWK will know.

 

CosmosGuy, ivy starts to flower about now (at least, it does where I live) and continues well into the autumn. There is a luxuriant patch of it on some waste ground down the road from me. It pongs a bit. :D

 

Thanks for the info, the only place it's established is in the oh's parents garden and it's growing around a trellis at about 8 ft, think it's been there a good ten years, but fairly sure it's a variegated one. Will have a look out in the next few weeks :D are the flowers pretty?

 

In a way, very subtle greens & yellows. You'll hear the bush on a fine autumn day before you see it, it'll be covered in bees, wasps, flies & if you are really lucky a pair of fruit bats.

 

I'm afraid not. Small yellowish green things which belong in Shrek's swamp. You wouldn't notice them at all if it wasn't for the odd smell.

 

I won't shove my nose in the flowers like I normally do then... Although I've nearly sucked up insects in the process before

Oh i hope there aren't any fruit bats, dont think the other half could cope with one of them flying out although it would make good sport.

 

Madahlia, as far as cabbage whites go ... I don't think there's any need to import eggs . Just grow a few nasturtiums or cultivate a prize cabbage patch and you'll have clouds of them in no time. As John says, they have a habit of homing in on the things you'd most like them to leave alone and ignoring the things you've put out for them. It's a bit like cats and scratching posts ... never works. Why use a post when you can use the leg of an antique chair?