Periwinkle and Vinca

By Skeeter

On Tuesday, I talked about my Volunteer Periwinkle. I made the mistake of calling it Vinca Minor. If you go to this Web Site, you will see why I called it Vinca Minor. This site's Classification reads,

Genus: Vinca L - Periwinkle
Species: Vinca Minor - Common Periwinkle.

This site also says this is a vine plant. I do have the vine plant of Vinca in my Georgia Gardens as you can see in the above and below pictures. Now, if you go to this Web Site, you will see that Vinca Major seems to be the same plant as Vinca Minor! The classification reads,

Genus: Vinca L-Periwinkle
Species: Vinca Major-Bigleaf Periwinkle.

And notice this is the same source Web Site! Are you as confused as I now? I have since removed the word Minor in Tuesdays posting.

The Blogger "How It Grows" was the first one to step in with assistance on this issue. Second came "Mothernaturesgarden" with only writing the words, Catharanthus Roseus. I finally found time to search Catharanthus Roseus and this site reads,

Genus: Catharanthus
Species: C. Roseus
Synonyms: Vinca Rosea
English names: Cape Periwinkle, Rose Periwinkle, Rosy Periwinkle and Old Maid.

Okay are we straight now? Ha, I am now more confused then ever but as with all plants, I know there are more then one called the same thing. The tag on the plant that I purchased says, Periwinkle/Vinca for the continuous flowers plants. There was no tag for the Ground cover plant I have as it was taken from my parents house and they told me it was called Vinca. So to keep things straight in the future, I will call my Catharanthus Roseus, Periwinkle.

In the above pictures you see the Vinca which is a ground cover creeping all over the place in my shade garden. I have planned a posting for it for months but it keeps getting pushed back for other topics. I had planned to get a topic on it today but since the confusion and my research, I decided to once again push that topic aside for now. I will get it up soon though...Here is how my Periwinkle got started as Volunteers in my gardens. I had thought this planter had been talked about at In the Garden but when looking back to link it, I did not find one. Ha, I sometimes wonder how I manage to keep a household running smoothly when things such as this happen. This area in the corner of my yard was bare and a pain to keep mowed so a planter came to mind. Free Bricks from a construction sight work well as planters. This picture was snapped after planting my first Periwinkle in April 2005. I count 15 plants which was way more then this planter needed but it was my first planting and I learned my lesson. Two months later, they were filling in for me. I don't have another picture of them that first year but they outgrew the planter!
Here is a close up of the Pink and White blooms.
The following year, I planted Red Periwinkle in the planter. The white and pink you see are from self seeding.
The color Purple was added on another year.
And here is another planter full of Volunteer colors as Red was the color planted that year. This planter was cleared of Periwinkle for new Castle Rock sides and to become my Pepper Planter this year. We had some yummy peppers but I missed the flower blooms. However, I had plenty of blooms from the seeds that jumped outside this planter.
Here are the results of some of those jumping seeds from planters onto the ground. OJ kitty enjoys them with me.Back to the Triangle Planter, you see this years growth. Only the dark pink Periwinkle were planted by me. The remainder of the seedlings you see are Volunteers from self seeding from years past plants! I keep telling myself I am not going to plant any new slips but they are so slow to pop up for me and I want color sooner then the seeds please me. Maybe next year I will not plant any new slips and just be a patient gardener.
Look at how thick they were. I had to take out many seedlings and toss them into the compost pile as I had no more energy left to transplant them in the Georgia heat! They may be slow to get from seeds to seedlings but once that heat gets to them, they grow really fast.

Look at the shapes of the blooms in these two pictures. the one on the left looks a bit pointed at the ends while the one one the right looks more fan shaped. Different flowers but are they the same flowers? Hum, did you understand the question? Same Species or not? Here is a closer peek at what I am talking about. The smaller pale pink looks pointed as does the bloom below it while the white bloom on the top and very bottom look fan shaped. And I never planted a Pale Pink Periwinkle. I think the dark and lighter pinks cross breed so I made my own pale pink flowers with the help of bees and butterflies!
Looking at the wider picture, maybe my eyes see the new blooms standing tall and pointed while the older blooms are starting to curl, thus loosing their points. Hum...
Here you see Bright Pink, Light Pink, White and Purple blooms happily together. Only one color was planted here, hum, which one? I am guessing the Bright Pink as those blooms are larger then the others. Wrong! These are all self seeders!
Here is a pretty good example of the glossy green foliage of the Periwinkle.
And here is a picture I snapped yesterday of the planter! Way over loaded with plants after having many plucked, transplanted and tossed.
Look at the color remaining in my corner planters on November 4. I have a mirror image of this planter on the opposite side of the house front. I am not looking forward to our first frost as they will all go bye bye then. They should still be with us a bit longer as the little pods have yet to pop open and scatter seeds for me. On a happy note, I know they will return again next year!

I enjoy my PERIWINKLE AND VINCA, In the Garden...

Note: Thanks to "How it Grows" and "Mothernaturesgarden" for the information and getting my brain to dig deeper...