Vinca Ground Cover
Vinca Ground Cover – A Gorgeous Thug
Being a gardener who loves year round color, I need more than green in the landscape in these colder months. The hills are emerald green despite the spotty rains thus far, but the cold snap at the beginning of the year has put paid to all other hues and I miss them.
So I was delighted the other day when we were driving along a windy road nearby and suddenly I was presented with a host of blue amongst the green. Good old vinca ground covers were scrambling up the shady banks, tumbling over the slopes in gay abandon.
These wonderful plants just made my day. They really are the most gorgeous blue. Vinca ground covers provide wonderful ground cover for shade and there they were in blatant disregard of the shadows. Monet always planted blues in the shadows because they lift the darkness.
Vinca ground covers also grow well in the sun. I had a spread of them in my old garden in Africa. Being perennial ground covers, they always provide great cover and flower for long periods from spring through summer. But there they were, blooming away on a winter’s day in the shade in Northern California. They are often planted where nothing else will grow because they are so spirited. They grow long tendrils, so spread quickly and easily.
Vinca ground covers are also known as periwinkle ground covers and also as myrtle. You can get Vinca Major which has larger leaves and flowers but doesn’t like it to get too cold, and Vinca Minor which is exactly the same but daintier looking (although more thuggish in character). I believe in very cold areas they might suffer some die back which stops them getting too out of hand. They grow well zones 3 to 10.
I had forgotten all about them but, as soon as I can lay my hands on some, Vinca ground cover is going to make a lush appearance under the trees in my garden.
Happy gardening and don’t forget your sunscreen.
By the way, here is a link to a list of gopher resistant plants:http://www.groundcoversandgardening.com/gopher resistant plants.
If you want to buy plants that deer probably won’t eat, look here.
