This Plant is How Old?

How old do you think this plant is?  A year, maybe five? 


Would you believe 37? 



Yes, I actually bought this plant when we lived in Chanute, Kansas.  I have a married daughter younger than that.  This Swedish Ivy was purchased for my living room window in 1975 and then was moved to our small house in Kansas City.  Then came the long trek to Miami in 1977 where it hung in the family room for a while.  The plant grew longer and longer.  Not wanting to trim it I moved it outdoors to the ever-reaching Ficus tree.  The kids climbed that tree and everytime were warned not to bother my Swedish Ivy.  It survived!  If you've ever seen a ficus, you know it has huge roots that dangle from the branches and take root in the ground. Eventually the Swedish Ivy was imbedded in that ficus tree.  The tree grew and grew, and so did the ivy.



Along came Hurricane Andrew in August of 1992.  I so wanted to pull my ivy out and take it inside in hopes of protecting it from the storm.  I decided the plant would be safe as long as the tree was there and it was one very SOLID tree---so I thought.  The 164 mph winds howled in our neighborhood that horrible night.  Winds were clocked at 212 mph at the power plant south of us.  The next morning as we eventually made our way outside to see the remains of our neighborhood, I saw IT.  The ficus tree was GONE, lying on its side or almost on its head, buried in our backyard lake.  No way was that tree ever going to be pulled up.  I cried and cried over the loss of that tree!!!  Yes, I'm sentimental over dumb things.  My kids grew up with that tree as the tree grew up.  It was huge, but on August 25 there was a gaping hole in the landscape. But, ah-ha, the Swedish Ivy survived once again! As the tree was chopped into bits and hauled away---a several week process---the ivy was salvaged from the mangled, dangling roots of the ficus. That was almost 20 years ago. 



The plant was repotted and since then has moved to a new backyard.  An antique ice cream parlor chair is its home on our present patio.  The secret to the ivy's longevity---according to a longtime friend---when you break off pieces and share it with someone else it continues to live.  Sounds like a good theory to me.  That's what I've done and the Swedish Ivy lives on. 





I wonder where its next home will be!

Becky