Periwinkle

Periwinkles - also known as Vinca Vines, Trailing Myrtle, Dwarf Periwinkle, Creeping Myrtle, and Blue Buttons - are a lovely and simple flowering plant that grows low and spreads quickly, making it ideal to use as a garden or landscape groundcover!

Periwinkle produces flowers most of the year and is popular in container gardens. Native to Europe, Africa, and Asia, Periwinkle plants are available in various colors and sizes!

Fast-growing and often broadleaf evergreens, these colorful flowering vines can have green leaves, blue-green foliage, and variegated leaves in a variety of creams, greens, and yellow!

Featuring five-petalled pin-wheel-like violet-blue to lavender-blue blooms, the petals look like pinwheels with trumpet-like centers that pollinators and hummingbirds seek out! On long trailing stems, the flowers appear in the spring and many varieties can continue sporadically blooming throughout the growing season.

Featuring varieties adaptable to a wide range of USDA planting zones between 4 to 11, Vinca are highly adaptable and very easy to grow!

Deer and rabbit-resistant, pest and disease-resistant, and heat and cold-tolerant, Vinca Vines are very resilient plants!

How To Use Periwinkle In Your Garden

Growing best and having the best color in full sun in cooler growing zones, however, in warmer climates, Vinca does better in partial shade locations and afternoon shade areas!

Needing good drainage areas, poor sites to average garden sites, with regular moisture access for new plants. Once established, Vinca can be drought tolerant and Xeric gardens!

Mulch between new plants until they grow together and begin blocking weeds on their own.

Choosing The Right Periwinkle For You!

Browse only for the best flowering groundcover for your Planting Zone using our USDA zone filters, choose sun exposure levels, or narrow the options by size, color options, and more!

• Periwinkle - the original Vinca minor with lavender-blue blooms
• Bowles Periwinkle - a dwarf form of Vinca minor
• Variegated Periwinkle - a green form with white-edged leaves - sun to shade
• Ralph Shugert Periwinkle - blue-violet flowers and dark glossy leaves
• Wojos Jem Periwinkle - a pretty green, yellow, and white variegated form

Caring For Periwinkle

Get your new Periwinkle off on the right foot with these simple tips, planting advice in our #ProPlantTips, and with Nature Hills Root Booster!

• Full Sun in cooler zones, part sun/afternoon shade in hotter climates
• These Periwinkles do best in well-drained soil of almost any kind
• Create raised gardens or berms if you have poor drainage.
• Provide a 3-4 inch deep layer of mulch over the root system
• Prune After Flowering
• Water new plants regularly using the Finger Test to help them get established

Once established, Vinca is drought-tolerant and fast-growing!

Is Periwinkle An Annual or Perennial?

In cooler climates, Vinca Periwinkle can be used as annual accents and in mild winter zones are perennials that return each spring. In even warmer winter locations, Periwinkle can be semi-to-fully evergreen!

How Does Periwinkle Spread?

Periwinkle spread by way of underground rhizomes, forming dense mats that choke out weeds and cover ground fast.

Is Periwinkle Invasive?

In some locations of the US, Vinca can sometimes spread fast, especially in higher moisture locations, along ponds and water features, or wetlands, so because it can form a thick ground cover, choking out native plants, there are some States that will not allow us to ship these plants to you. 

Your environment is protected by Plant Sentry™, preventing the sale of potential problem plants into areas where they may spread.

Why Order From NatureHills.com?

Family-owned and operated since 2001, Nature Hills Nursery prides itself on meeting the needs of customers with an ever-growing collection of online plants backed by our product guarantee 

All of our plants are delivered safely to your home with instructions for planting, care, and storage, so you can order knowing you'll have exactly what you need! Plus plenty more information in our #ProPlantTips Garden Blog for extra support and inspiration!