Daily Flower Candy: Vigorous Vincas

First , a health warning : winkle , especially the kind that appreciate the British climate , can be complete thugs . Just this weekend I spotted a quarter - Akko monoculture ofVinca major‘Alba ’ ( below ) covering a stretch of ice drop beneath Charles Dickens ’ Bleak House in Broadstairs . The roving fore formed an undulating green custard , studded with K of pure snowy flowers , smother even the most rampant of competitors . ( The latin password ‘ vincire ’ , from which the namevincais derived , have in mind ‘ attach ’ . )

Vinca major , which more often than not produces five - petalled , lilac - blue bloom , has its spot … . somewhere around the far fringes of the garden where it can wassail in dry wraith or rampage down a steep banking concern . Here the plant ’s southerly European heritage come to the stem , rendering it tolerant of drought and summertime heat , as well as deep shadiness . Vinca majoris such a wolfish visitor that in some country it ’s become a serious problem plant .

allow for you ’re well-chosen to tolerate a little unfit conduct , Vinca majorwill work hard for you . Named , variegated forms such as ‘ Maculata ’ ( green leaves with gold centres ) , ‘ Variegata ’ ( green edged with white ) and ‘ Wojo ’s treasure ’ ( cream with green edges and pink prow , below ) will spread spark across a dark corner quicker than you may say “ Stop right there ! ” . Vincas ascendent where the trailing stems touch the background , rapidly creating enormous clumps of evergreen vegetation .

Do n’t be dissipate into thinkingVinca minor(lesser Vinca rosea ) is any more polite than her bounteous sister . Yes , she ’s a lower growing plant life with more delicate leave , but her estimation about world supremacy are equal . There are some endearing cultivars , many with RHS Awards of Garden Merit , include ‘ Azurea Flore Pleno ’ AGM ( sky - blue blossom ) , ‘ Atropurpurea ’ AGM ( recondite reddish - purple ) , ‘ Gertrude Jekyll ’ ( pure white ) , ‘ Ralph Shugert ’ AGM ( vivid , deep violet ) and ‘ Variegata ’ AGM ( green result margined cream with violet - down in the mouth flowers , below ) .

Somewhere in betweenmajorandminorcomesVinca difformis(imaginatively dubbed average periwinkle ) , which is an on the whole well acquit flora . It spread slowly to about 120 cm and revel in dry shade where little else will grow . Flowering begins in late summer , when the simple bloom come along lily-white , tinged with aristocratic . This bluishness pass off to complete white through the wintertime , whilst the flower keep on coming . Vinca difformisis a rhomb in the gravelly and well worth tracking down if you are craving a little wintertime colour in your garden .

Major , venial or somewhere in between , there ’s a vinca out there with designs on your garden . pick out the correct location and Vinca will do your dirty work ; make one false move and your precious plant will be engulfed by a uprise tide of sheeny green foliage . Do n’t say I did n’t warn you !

Vinca major ‘Alba’ flowering in the depths of January