I have two shrubs in our Pacific Coast garden that I cannot identify. Both shrubs have been there for several years. They are about 3 feet hight. The first (Unknown 1) may be a viburnum but does not quite fit. It is about to bloom. It evergreen and has glossy laurel-like leaves. It is the only specimen of its kind, in relative shade until afternoon. The other (Unknown 2) is also close to blooming; it is evergreen and also has glossy leaves, heart-shaped. There are 3 specimens, all in relative shade until afternoon. Two are also partly shaded by trees when they are in leaf.
Whether your ivy is Hedera helix or H. hibernica, it looks like it has reached the 'adult' stage of its life when it can no longer grow as a vine but has assumed a shrub-like form. In its juvenile, or vining stage, ivy is a terrible environmental scourge and can take over enormous areas, preventing little else to grow. It grows up trees just as happily as it grows over the ground and often smothers them or causes them to break from its sheer weight or in the wind. So much has been written about the invasiveness of ivy which I cannot summarize properly here but there are lots of websites that describe the problem and ongoing efforts to eradicate it. English ivy: Hedera helix (Apiales: Araliaceae): Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States When ivy reaches a point where it's got nowhere else to grow, it becomes 'arborescent' and takes the shape of a shrub. The appearance of the leaves changes and it acquires the ability to bloom and produce seeds. At this stage, its threat is even more insidious because birds or other creatures eat the seeds and then deposit them in many cases far away from the original plant where new infestations take root.
The shrubby fertile stage also occurs on - as well as near - the ground. So apparently there is not actually an involvement of there being nowhere higher to go.
