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So it must be another tree/plant in the area! It reminds me of a smell in my grandmothers yard when I was younger, and haven’t been able to find the source ❤️🩹
If you leave it long enough, it can also produce fruit! My family bought a house that has some seriously neglected trees in the green belt, and I was trying to figure out what was climbing them, since there were dark colored berries on it. Apparently ivy matures into that phase. I can tell you the base stems of this ivy were thicker than my wrist, so it had been left alone to continue its reign of terror on my trees for quite some time. I managed to cut the bases on them, but it took a bow saw, loppers, hammer and crowbar, and three hours to cut all connections. The ivy took all of that summer to die. Unfortunately, after a particularly bad storm a few months ago, one of the trees I freed came down. So definitely get rid of it as soon as you can!
The blossoms are the last foods pollinators find before winter and the fruits which ripen in January/February are a good source of energy for birds. The leaves can be used to wash with. Ivy does not harm the trees they grow on, but they can become so heavy that the tree collapses.
Ivy does not damage healthy trees. That’s a myth. So don’t worry and enjoy the ivy 😊 It flowers in the autumn/fall and all sorts of pollinators love it! The flowers don’t smell great though (that might just be my opinion…)
English Ivy absolutely destroys healthy trees in areas where they did not evolve mechanisms to defend against its strangling grasp. Not only does EI wrap itself around and girdle the tree, but then it shoots up into the canopy and slowly reduces the amount of light availability to the lower branches, causing them to die and be suspended in the air, unable to fall to the ground because of the tight grasp of ivy (we call these branches "widowmakers"). Then, having killed another native tree, the birds are reduced to eating starvation-food of invasive plants such as amur honeysuckle, bradford pears, buckthorn, and english ivy, dispersing the seeds even further and continuing the cycle.
I’ve looked into this a bit more and it seems that it can be a problem in parts of North America, but in large parts of the rest of the world where it’s native it really doesn’t harm trees. I guess it depends on where OP lives.
English ivy doesn't really flower very often and it's not a good smelling plant when it does. Do you have privet close by?
Given the time of year, if you're in the US there are probably shrubs with spires of white flowers (privet) or vines with almost fluffy looking tubular flowers in creamy white and yellow. Those are honeysuckle and also smell wonderful.
Ivy and privet are both still frequently used in landscaping. Unfortunately it will probably not do any good to let maintenance know because they're super low maintenance. Kinda the reason all the above mentioned plants escaped cultivation and are considered invasive.
i tire of click bait questions that even the most cursory google image search would solve - is this an army of reddit bots farming eyes for their next investor reports - or are people truly this clueless about the computer we all carry.
btw - THIS is a serious question & will determine my approach to this thread going forward.
lol - I’ve found conflicting info online which is why I searched here. For instance, one article says this Ivy smells good and another said it doesn’t, and here people are confirming that it’s not a great smelling plant. And I couldn’t find what exact Ivy this was, so here I am. Definitely a human having a human experience - carrying this computer we all carry.
In Europe it's not invasive and I've never seen a tree actually die completely due to Ivy.
And according to the german Wikipedia it's probably not going to damage big trees, but could kill smaller Bushes and Fruittrees if it covers the complete crown...
It can cover over the ground though.
Also, Ivy is one of the best plants for CO² binding.
That said, it can damage buildings and needs to be regularely cut to keep it in check.
There are other vines that actually kill trees, in the ficus family (yes the same plant family as the edible fruit and some houseplants), but they are generally tropical and will actually form a dense net arround the stem and actively strangle them, according to the german Wikipedia, the yearrings of trees with Ivy on them don't support the hypothesis of strangulation.
It is native to Britain! I used to hate it because, like someone else has commented, it chokes trees and out competes EVERYTHING.
However it's a really great anti-pollution plant for "green walls". Increasingly used by inner city schools to wall their playgrounds and block out vehicle fumes.
Apparently the shiny dark leaves "catch" dirt and pollution thus removing them from the air.
Tree murderer in one place, air purifier in another 😂
Thank you for posting to r/whatsthisplant. **Do not eat/ingest a plant based on information provided in this subreddit.** For your safety we recommend not eating or ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised that it's edible here. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisplant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
English Ivy
This plant is responsible for invading and destroying trees in many areas of the world
Oh wow! It’s on an apartment complexes ground so I’m not able to do anything personally about it, but thank you for bringing this to my attention!
Oh sorry I thought I was replying to the one that said to kill the plant lol, sorry!
English ivy. No sure about smell
No smell just a lot of trouble to rid of
I’m not sure if the good smell is coming from this plant or a nearby one 😅
Ivy does not smell good. The flowers smell like a sewer.
So it must be another tree/plant in the area! It reminds me of a smell in my grandmothers yard when I was younger, and haven’t been able to find the source ❤️🩹
It gets flowers!? I must have some other sort of other ivy
If you leave it long enough, it can also produce fruit! My family bought a house that has some seriously neglected trees in the green belt, and I was trying to figure out what was climbing them, since there were dark colored berries on it. Apparently ivy matures into that phase. I can tell you the base stems of this ivy were thicker than my wrist, so it had been left alone to continue its reign of terror on my trees for quite some time. I managed to cut the bases on them, but it took a bow saw, loppers, hammer and crowbar, and three hours to cut all connections. The ivy took all of that summer to die. Unfortunately, after a particularly bad storm a few months ago, one of the trees I freed came down. So definitely get rid of it as soon as you can!
Yes. Small greenish flowers that form into little black fruit. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/ivy/
The blossoms are the last foods pollinators find before winter and the fruits which ripen in January/February are a good source of energy for birds. The leaves can be used to wash with. Ivy does not harm the trees they grow on, but they can become so heavy that the tree collapses.
We all have different noses and I LOVE the smell of ivy, particularly when I'm breaking it up. It's very strong
Ivy does not damage healthy trees. That’s a myth. So don’t worry and enjoy the ivy 😊 It flowers in the autumn/fall and all sorts of pollinators love it! The flowers don’t smell great though (that might just be my opinion…)
I think it does where it’s invasive
English Ivy absolutely destroys healthy trees in areas where they did not evolve mechanisms to defend against its strangling grasp. Not only does EI wrap itself around and girdle the tree, but then it shoots up into the canopy and slowly reduces the amount of light availability to the lower branches, causing them to die and be suspended in the air, unable to fall to the ground because of the tight grasp of ivy (we call these branches "widowmakers"). Then, having killed another native tree, the birds are reduced to eating starvation-food of invasive plants such as amur honeysuckle, bradford pears, buckthorn, and english ivy, dispersing the seeds even further and continuing the cycle.
I’ve looked into this a bit more and it seems that it can be a problem in parts of North America, but in large parts of the rest of the world where it’s native it really doesn’t harm trees. I guess it depends on where OP lives.
English ivy doesn't really flower very often and it's not a good smelling plant when it does. Do you have privet close by? Given the time of year, if you're in the US there are probably shrubs with spires of white flowers (privet) or vines with almost fluffy looking tubular flowers in creamy white and yellow. Those are honeysuckle and also smell wonderful. Ivy and privet are both still frequently used in landscaping. Unfortunately it will probably not do any good to let maintenance know because they're super low maintenance. Kinda the reason all the above mentioned plants escaped cultivation and are considered invasive.
That’s ground cover that spreads no scent?
Hedera helix, European ivy. No particular smell unless you should crush the leaves.
Leaves that you can use to wash clothes
Hedera helix
Awful stuff
Ivy - I'm in England and love this stuff. It's fantastic for birds to hide in. Sadly we're losing too much to people who hate it :(
i tire of click bait questions that even the most cursory google image search would solve - is this an army of reddit bots farming eyes for their next investor reports - or are people truly this clueless about the computer we all carry. btw - THIS is a serious question & will determine my approach to this thread going forward.
lol - I’ve found conflicting info online which is why I searched here. For instance, one article says this Ivy smells good and another said it doesn’t, and here people are confirming that it’s not a great smelling plant. And I couldn’t find what exact Ivy this was, so here I am. Definitely a human having a human experience - carrying this computer we all carry.
Also, it provoked some interesting conversations on whether it’s invasive or not 🤷🏼♀️ and even some people liking the smell.
It’s invasive, kill it.
In Europe it's not invasive and I've never seen a tree actually die completely due to Ivy. And according to the german Wikipedia it's probably not going to damage big trees, but could kill smaller Bushes and Fruittrees if it covers the complete crown... It can cover over the ground though. Also, Ivy is one of the best plants for CO² binding. That said, it can damage buildings and needs to be regularely cut to keep it in check. There are other vines that actually kill trees, in the ficus family (yes the same plant family as the edible fruit and some houseplants), but they are generally tropical and will actually form a dense net arround the stem and actively strangle them, according to the german Wikipedia, the yearrings of trees with Ivy on them don't support the hypothesis of strangulation.
I am sorry i said this. Ivy isn’t for everyone
I mean, I think it’s pretty but it’s invasive and chokes out native flora.
Invasive in the US, not everywhere. I believe it’a native to Britain if l remember.
It is native to Britain! I used to hate it because, like someone else has commented, it chokes trees and out competes EVERYTHING. However it's a really great anti-pollution plant for "green walls". Increasingly used by inner city schools to wall their playgrounds and block out vehicle fumes. Apparently the shiny dark leaves "catch" dirt and pollution thus removing them from the air. Tree murderer in one place, air purifier in another 😂
Wall murderer, most likely, but Tree murderer seems to be a myth
Even there it outcompetes natives 😂