My house is about 85 years old.  Some of the original shrubs and vines are still growing here according to later generations of the original family and old photos.  One shrub in particular, a Nandina domestica (heavenly bamboo) is especially noteworthy.

I don’t know if its large size was intentional or just tolerated, but when we moved into the house 36 years ago it was over the top of an 8-foot fence.  Even more impressive, it attained that height after fighting through layers of ivy that covered the fence to a 3-foot width on both sides.  For many years I marveled at that old shrub.  The ivy was strong and wildly aggressive but the Nandina continued to assert itself.  Just when I’d think the ivy had suppressed it, heavenly bamboo would pop through with its little white flowers.

The day came when we finally removed the deteriorating old fence and of course the ivy had to come with it.  I fretted over the fate of the remains of the Nandina and ultimately could not let it go the way of the ivy.   We (that would be my husband) carefully dug out what was left of the plant along with its ancient roots.  Neither of us had high hopes for it but I just had to give it a chance after all those years of perseverance.

My husband dug a hole in another spot feeling more like a gravedigger than a gardener.  We cut back dead canes that were an inch and a half in diameter. I trimmed and fertilized and watered and waited for good news.

Back from the dead about eighteen months later, my Nandina domestica reigns supreme!   It came back and the ivy did not.  Maybe without the plucky Heavenly Bamboo to battle, the ivy thought life was just not worth living.