08 Periwinkle

My lovely Periwinkle has been flowering all over the winter due to the mild weather, but this last couple of weeks it has really burst forth. This Periwinkle or Vinca Minor is in a pot on top of a rather unattractive brick pillar in front of my house, and is a common blue variety with neat green leaves mixed with a blue flowered variegated leaved strain.

Being on a pillar showcases the long pink stalks of regularly spaced leaves that pour down over the sides of the pot, and the mixture of plain and patterned leaves create a lovely movement and shine gloriously in the rain.

    

The flowers are a simple propeller shape with a pretty starry centre and the furled buds shoot up from amongst the new growth.

Vinca Minor is a mat forming hardy shrub that can be invasive. It flowers best in full sun, but is useful in any position as ground cover and thrives in anything but the driest of soils. There are white, blue and purple flowered variants available, I have a pot of white covering the water butt at the back of the house, but it seems to flower much less freely (maybe because I forget to water it!) Ideally you prune Vincas in the spring to encourage a good summer flowering, but when they flower as consistently as this year it's a bit difficult. So I'll wait until it pauses between one flowering and the next and give it a hair cut. That usually means it shoots from the base again and starts to flower all over again! Flowers also appear all along the long fronds, and these fronds often root themselves and colonise more of your garden, so keep track of where it's going unless you are happy for it to spread liberally!

Vinca Major is also gorgeous, this is some in Jayne's garden

 As the name suggests it's bigger and needs more space. It's equally enthusiastic, even hardier and will rampage around the place if left alone. However if you have a corner or bank that needs covering or a space to fill, then it is great value for money and looks beautiful almost all year round. 

Right, I'm off to trim and split my white Periwinkle so I can cover both water butts. With a bit of extra space, and a good feed- let's see if I can encourage that one to flower too!