Native to places like Asia and Europe, the Common Periwinkle (Vinca minor) is a woody vine, evergreen, and usually used as a ground cover over landscapes but can find a proper home in bog gardens as well. One of the first noticeable things about this periwinkle is that it is very fast growing. There are blue violet blooms, funnel shaped and giving interest into the garden. These blooms will be throughout the spring and a bit into the summer time as well. There are many different cultivars of Vinca minor, which can be yellow or white or burgundy in color.
How to Plant and Grow Common Periwinkle
The Vinca minor will need good full sun in the landscape to get the most flowers from the plant. If the desired end result is a better ground cover, then plant in a bit of shade for it to not bloom as much and spread better as the vine. Obviously for it to be considered as a bog plant, it prefers to be in a moist environment. Not letting the plant dry out will be optimal for the bog setting, a bit drier for the ground cover. The USDA Hardiness Zones for the Common Periwinkle is for four to nine. This particular periwinkle is the hardiest of all them. This can be propagated by dividing the shoot pieces that can be harvested or already rooted by the time one goes to divide.
Problems with Vinca minor
Don’t ingest the Common Periwinkle; it will cause quite a bit of stomach upset bordering on toxic. This gastric distress is due to alkaloids (known to cause liver and kidney damage, one of the moderate ones in the toxin categories) and can occur in many living creatures, so take care in putting it anywhere that kids, livestock, pets, and other living creatures will be playing or roaming.
Another problem with Common Periwinkle is that it can be invasive with the speed of its growth, the ease of the bonding to shoots rooting themselves, and the wayward nature of it. Keep an eye on it and the boundaries that the garden will have, there may have to be some edgework done to keep Vinca minor in bounds.
Scientific Classification of Common Periwinkle
- Kingdom Plantae – Plants
- Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
- Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants
- Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
- Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
- Subclass Asteridae
- Order Gentianales
- Family Apocynaceae – Dogbane family
- Genus Vinca L. – periwinkle
- Species Vinca minor L. – common periwinkle
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