Periwinkle
Vinca minor
An evergreen groundcover with small blue-lavender spring flowers that carpets shade fast and deer leave alone. That speed is the problem: it roots as it creeps, spreads into lawns, beds and woods, and the NC Invasive Plant Council lists it as invasive. Consider a native groundcover instead.
- Mature size
- 4 × 10 in
- 0.1 × 0.3 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–9a
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to full shade
- Water
- Dry to moist
- Blooms
- Apr–May
Periwinkle at its mature size
A mature Periwinkle grows 3 to 6 inches tall and 3 to 18 inches wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, Clemson Extension.
Through the year
What Periwinkle looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Jun–Mar
Low mat of glossy dark green small oval leaves.
In flower · Apr–May
Lilac-blue five-petal flowers across the glossy mat.
Photos
Growing Periwinkle
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Good for
- Groundcover, shade garden, drought tolerant, deer resistant, and fast growing
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Central and Southern Europe
- State lists
Prohibited in Delaware, so it can’t be sold there. Delaware Invasive Plant List
Listed as invasive in Virginia. Virginia invasive plant signage law (§ 3.2-3801.1)
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Periwinkle, that’s about 10 in apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Periwinkle in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.