Periwinkles

Periwinkle--Vinca major--are great for dry climate cottage gardens. True, they can run wild, but it has been my observation that they will not cross under a regularly walked-on clay path; so they can be confined by a path alone. They don't self-seed--in dry inland areas, at least. I haven't seen any come up in situations other than where they were originally planted.

Plant breeders tend not to bother with plants that can survive well without lots of water, chemicals and sprays--probably because the cu$tomer$ won't need to come back!!!; so it's quite surprising, when you think about it, that there are not more cultivars and hybrids of periwinkle around. They do a lot of work with the thirstier Vinca rosea, for example; but there's no reason why (tough old) Vinca major could not be worked up into umpteen different colours and shades; and have that wonderful drought-resistance. (They could even breed non-invasive varieties!) Why bother with a water-guzzling lawn, when a carpet of periwinkle stays green and glossy, long after the grass has turned white? It will eventually die back for summer, but you can then mow it down for the summertime, and it will return again in winter.

Vinca major always puts on a marvellous spring show of beautiful blue propeller-shaped flowers--yes, it's related to oleanders and frangipanis. There may be pink or white or double-petalled varieties around; but you don't see them very often. Many people consider it a weed. It certainly grows along dunes and beaches along the coast. You sometimes see it in country cemeteries. There is, too, a variegated variety you see around in people's gardens. These do make a nice leaf contrast to the plain-leafed type.

Periwinkle is a most undervalued plant. It can survive just on rainfall, once established. Of course, it will give better, more and larger blooms if it has rain or watering at blooming time.