The Jungle Encroaches...

..gradually, stealthily, insidiously.....

My mother told me to never plant Virginia Creeper...I should have listened..Mothers know these things...

But I did not listen. And this is what I got...

Believe it or not, there is an arbour under all that creeping Virginia , and a fence, and oh yes, a fountain featuring a LION of all things..a lion which in better times, and with a functioning pump - used to spout water into a basin...which seems like something a real lion would not do...I am not sure who came up with that idea...but at the time, it seemed like an elegant thing to have in my garden. A spitting lion. Everyone should have one. 

Lest I seem to be a very negligent and/or amateur gardener, I want to stress that just two weeks ago, I cut all that ivy back. I freed the lion, and released the wicker rocker and table from the choking tendrils of Virginia the Creeper.  I turn my back for a couple of weeks? And look what happens!  It is BACK...

Me against Mother Nature - that is a battle I will never win....but just in case, I will nip over to Canadian Tire and see if they sell machetes.