{"id":4469,"date":"2017-12-05T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T09:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?p=4469"},"modified":"2017-12-05T09:00:56","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T09:00:56","slug":"adventbotany-day-5-ivy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2017\/12\/05\/adventbotany-day-5-ivy\/","title":{"rendered":"#AdventBotany Day 5: Ivy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dawn Bazely <\/a><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Hibberd’s monograph on Ivy comes in an ivy green cover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first Advent Botany post<\/a>, on December 1st<\/sup>, 2014, was about ivy, that most classic of British festive season species. English Ivy,\u00a0as it\u2019s known in North America (Hedera helix<\/em>) is an evergreen woody climbing plant.\u00a0 It is native to much of Europe and Asia, and it was introduced to North America as a garden plant, where it promptly jumped over the fence. Ivy is considered invasive in Washington State<\/a>, USA and in British Columbia<\/a>, Canada. It also does very well in my Toronto front garden.<\/p>\n

Ivy always makes me think of 19th<\/sup> century England, perhaps because it’s so common in Victorian North Oxford<\/a>, where I lived for 6 years. We know that ivy was a popular garden plant during Victorian times because James Shirley Hibberd<\/a> (1825 \u2013 1890), the very successful gardening writer and journalist (Wilkinson 2012), devoted an entire book<\/a> to it, called:<\/p>\n

The Ivy, a monograph: comprising the history, uses, characteristics, and affinities of the plant, and a descriptive list of all the garden ivies in cultivation<\/em> (1872).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ivy covered ruins on the frontispiece of the book<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hibberd<\/a> gives the reader lots of \u201chistorical and literary memoranda\u201d about ivy, including some musings on its roles at Christmas, and in tavern and pub signage!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A pub sign featuring ivy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe holly and the ivy have, from the earliest times held the mastery in providing the green garniture of the Christmas feast, and in many a bright old carol are their virtues celebrated in connection with the great season of rejoicing in the Christian year.\u201d p.11<\/p>\n\n

General literacy increased during Victorian times, as a result of the spread of charitable and private schools<\/a>,while the Elementary Education Act<\/a> (1870) mandated state schooling for everyone. This helped to create a demand for Hibberd\u2019s affordable colour printed gardening books and magazines. His prolific writing was aimed at amateur gardeners: people with low to middle incomes, who were gardening in small, city gardens (Wilkinson 1998). Many of Hibberd’s readers would not have had a paid professional gardener.<\/p>\n

Today, the modern technologies of digitization and the internet are allowing us to experience British Victorian era botany. We can all download and read a digitized copy of Hibberd\u2019s The Ivy<\/em>, from the University of California Libraries via the Biodiversity Heritage Library<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ivy is common as a friend or an interloper in many gardens. Here it is growing up a post in the author’s garden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

References:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Shirley Hibberd, J. 1872. The Ivy, a monograph<\/em>. London, Groombridge and sons. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5962\/bhl.title.17338<\/a><\/p>\n

Wilkinson, A. 1998. The preternatural gardener: The Life of James Shirley Hibberd (1825-90). Garden History<\/em>. 26: 153-175. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1587201<\/a><\/p>\n

Wilkinson, A. 2012. Shirley Hibberd, The Father of Amateur Gardening: His Life and Works 1825\u20131890<\/em>.\u00a0Cortex Design Publishers.\u00a0ISBN<\/a>\u00a0978-0-956-809605<\/a><\/p>\n

WEBSITES referenced in this post:<\/em><\/h3>\n