Vinca - colour for a hot spot.
Vinca or "Periwinkle" as it is known by it's common name, is an annual plant which will grow fast and has a long flowering period. Annuals last only one growing season, but Vinca will re-seed itself, and new plants will grow again if the right conditions are met. Vincas come in many colours (mainly pastel colours), and can be grown from seedlings - available in most nurseries, or can be grown from seed. They can be useful for either full sun or part shade areas. Water and fertilise regularly for the best flower display. Be careful not to confuse Vinca with Impatiens, they are a different plant .These Vincas were photographed in a Sydney garden not far from the Harbour.
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Vinca (Periwinkle)
The common periwinkle plant (Vinca minor) is often spotted creeping down steep hillsides and banks, offering a green and growing affect in areas which might otherwise be bare. The periwinkle plant is exceptional as an erosion control specimen. Periwinkle is also used as a spreading shrub in USDA garden zones 4 to 8. Periwinkle is often also called creeping vinca.
How to Grow Periwinkle Plants
This broadleaf evergreen plant grows easily and periwinkle care most often involves keeping the prolific spreader in check. Periwinkle, once established, is drought resistant and needs little other care if properly sited in the landscape. Periwinkle care after planting may include the removal of tall weeds in the area.
Once established, growing periwinkle will likely shade out future growth of weeds and eliminate this chore. The periwinkle plant grows best in a partially shaded area in acidic soil; however, it can thrive in a variety of sunlight and soil conditions. Growing periwinkle in partial shade creates more vigorous growth. In many instances, extreme vigor may not be desirable unless the periwinkle plant needs to cover a large area.
One small plant can spread to 8 feet across. Growing periwinkle as a ground cover is common as it rarely reaches more than 4 inches in height. Periwinkle is best used for controlling erosion as described above. Do not plant near other specimens in the flower bed or garden, as it may overtake and choke out valuable plantings. This plant may be used as a climber on a non-living support and is useful for blocking views when used in this way.
Before planting periwinkle, make sure it is what you want in the area, as it is difficult to remove once established. Periwinkle appears low on the exotic invasive list, but can escape cultivation in the garden. It is rarely found escaping into undisturbed woodlands. Now that you know how to grow periwinkle and manage its growth, you can make an informed decision before planting the specimen in your landscape. Periwinkle ground cover should not be confused with annual periwinkle, as annual periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) is a different plant.
Vinca minor is a perennial, evergreen vine. The stems are smooth, green, round, sometimes pubescent, and often hollow, although it does produce woody rhizomes. The plant forms thick sprawling mats with the flowering stems more or less erect. Its leaves are simple and arranged oppositely on the stem, though sometimes the nodes are so close together that two pairs of leaves seem to form a whorl.
The leaves are oblong-ovate to elliptical, approximately 2-5 cm long and 1-2.5cm wide, with petioles 1-3mm long. They are glossy, pinnately veined, entire, and have margins that curl away from the sun. The veins are usually white, and latex can be found in the stems and leaves.
The flower is perfect and without odor. It is showy, purple to blue and occasionally white, borne singly in an axillary position on a 1-1.5cm pedicel. The calyx is five-lobed, green, and glabrous. The petals radiate from the center in an almost pinwheel-like shape forming an 8-12mm long tube with a white crest that is finely pubescent near the base. The corolla is approximately 2.5 cm in diameter. The flower has five stamens; the anthers are yellow and their tips are finely pubescent. The superior green gynoecium is two-carpellate. The style is green; the stigma is densely pubescent and white.
Source: http://climbers.lsa.umich.edu/?p=170
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Vinca refers to several groups of plants suitable for a number of applications: Vinca minor (Common Periwinkle, Dwarf Periwinkle) and Vinca major (Big-leaf Periwinkle) both make lovely, evergreen groundcovers; Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar Periwinkle) is an upright, flowering annual perfect for beds and containers.
Known for their adaptability and low maintenance, they thrive in heat, humidity, drought, cold, and poor soil, flaunting blooms in shades of white, rose, pink, and red, and flowering from spring to fall, depending on the variety.
Genus name is from Latin meaning to bind or wind around in reference to the long, flexible stems that were used in wreath making. Specific epithet means smaller. The leaves of Vinca minor are smaller than those of Vinca major.
No serious insect problems but vince stem canker (blight) can damage or kill large patches. Can spread aggressively into adjacent lawns or garden areas. Versatile ground cover for shady areas. Good cover for bulbs. Effective on slopes or banks to stabilize soils and prevent erosion.
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Lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor) belongs to the dogbane family (Apocyanaceae). It is a perennial evergreen viny subshrub, 15-20 cm high. It is creeping but never twining or climbing. The plant has opposite, elliptic to lance-shaped, shiny dark green leaves that grow up to 5 cm long with a leathery texture.
The 2-3 cm sky-blue and funnel-shaped flowers are produced continuously from May to October. The flowers have two follicles (a dry unilocular fruit formed from one carpel), containing numerous seeds. There are numerous cultivars of periwinkle each with different flower colors (blue, white, pink, etc.) and variegated foliage.
Periwinkle is originally native to Central and Southern Europe, from Denmark to Spain and east to West Asia. Lesser periwinkle was introduced to North America in the 1700s for ornamental purposes.
The leaves or the whole above-ground parts of the lesser periwinkle are used in herbal medicine. Both the flowering and non-blooming shoots are harvested and dried as quickly as possible at a temperature up to 45 ° C.
The dried plant material can be used for extracts, liquid extracts, powder, and tinctures. Periwinkle was already referred to as medicinal plant at the time of Pedanius Dioscorides (1st century AD), who recommended the use of the herb for a toothache and poisonous insect stings and animal bites.
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Vinca is an evergreen subshrub or herbaceous plant commonly known as the Madagascar periwinkle or Rosy Periwinkle. It is a species of Catharanthus native and endemic to Madagascar.
Scientific Name: Catharanthus roseus (the word Catharanthus derives from the Greek language meaning “pure flower”)
Common Name: Vinca, Madagascar periwinkle, Rosy Periwinkle, Cape Periwinkle, Rose Periwinkle, and “Old-Maid”. In India the plant is known as sadaphuli meaning “always flowering”.
Medicinal Uses:
Vinca has long been cultivated for herbal medicine. In Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine) the extracts of its roots and shoots, though poisonous, is used against several diseases. In traditional Chinese medicine, extracts from it have been used against numerous diseases, including diabetes, malaria, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Vinca is noted for its long flowering period, throughout the year in tropical conditions, and from spring to late autumn, in warm temperate climates. Flowers come in a wide variety of colors such as red, dark red, white, pink, light pink, and purple.
Excellent selection of plants always! I have seen these plants thrive amazingly in Karachi, Pakistan. The flowers can be seen most of the year.
Abundant blooms and ease of care make vinca (Catharanthus roseus) an excellent selection if you have little time to tend your garden.
Useful in borders, flowerbeds, rock gardens and containers, the vinca flower provides instant color wherever it grows. The round, flat blooms appear on top of 12- to 15-inch stems.
These drought-tolerant bedding plants thrive in any soil type as long as it is fast draining and not overly fertile. Hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9b through 11, vincas thrive in full sun and require temperatures no colder than 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Although vincas are known as summer-flowering annuals, they are actually biennials and will flower for you all through autumn into winter. Prune back by 50 per cent at the beginning of spring, liquid fertilise and they will start flowering again at the end of spring.
The cascading varieties of the Cora Cascade vinca include Polka Dot, with a profusion of soft pink single flowers with a red centre. Other colours include lilac, magenta, cherry and strawberry.
They are also available as deep red, purple/black and pure white-flowering plants.
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The clear crisp flowers and glossy green leaves of annual vinca are so perfect you may be tempted to rub them to see if they are real. Annual vinca, occasionally called periwinkle, is not related to the perennial ground cover with the same common name. In fact, annual vinca is native to Madagascar and is prized for its nonstop flower show from early summer till fall. Annual vinca is drought tolerant and requires almost no maintenance to keep it looking terrific. Use it en masse in beds and borders or tuck it into mixed containers with other annual flowers. Annual vinca grows 12 to 18 inches tall and comes in pink, purple, red, white, magenta, and bi-colors. The flowers are also attractive to butterflies. Hardy in zone 10.
Annual vinca doesn't require deadheading, or the removal of faded flowers, to continue blooming, making it a wonderfully low-maintenance annual flower for sun. Some older types of vinca can self seed in the garden, especially in subtropical areas. It can be invasive in certain areas; check local restrictions before planting it.
Images source: google
Contents source: http://www.costafarms.com/plants/vinca-annual
Vinca minor, also known as Common Periwinkle, a plant species originally native to parts of central and southern Europe. Commonly used and referred to as a 'groundcover,' Vinca minor is often used to cover bare places of ground and is dense in its nature of growth. It has a habit that often chokes out competing plants and weeds, Periwinkle is excellent in preventing soil erosion. Vinca minor tends to bloom throughout the spring and summer months.
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The periwinkles in the genus Vinca open their first flowers quite early, when crocuses are in full bloom and as daffodils start to flower. Periwinkle flowers are a lovely shade of blue-purple, pink, red or white, which is well enough known to appear in poetry and clothing catalogs as a color name
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Periwinkles are evergreen in most of Europe so are available all year for chaplets. The blue color made periwinkles flowers of heaven and symbols of Jesus, Mary and the angels in Heaven, so in medieval Europe one might carry or wear periwinkles as a reminder of Heaven and its grace.
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Periwinkles (the plants) have a rich history in Europe, having been used medicinally since at least Roman times. Dioscorides (64 AD) wrote that the leaves and stalks drunk in wine stop dysentery and chewed, the leaves cure the pains of the teeth. That's just a bit of the folklore of periwinkles.
text from multiple Google sources
They are indeed more beautiful in real life ;)
I have seen them up close and they sure are a beauty ,I have images in my stock of them as well.
This is very beautiful garden and beautiful photography.
thanks @ctrl-alt-nwo
Have a great day.