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Form
-short evergreen perennial groundcover
-maturing at about 6" tall x up to 3" in diameter for each individual plant
-trailing mat, prostrate mat, or mounding mat growth habit
-medium growth rate |
Foliage
-opposite along the thin stems, but clustered at stem terminals
-evergreen, elliptic, and entire, being lustrous dark green above with a subtle white mid-vein
-cultivars exist that have creamy-white, silvery-white, gold, or yellow variegation of the foliage |
Flowers
-blue-purple is the predominate color, but cultivars also exist that are reddish-lavender or white
-solitary flowers originate from the leaf axils, composed of 5, fused, pinwheel-like petals and a short tubular throat, blooming in late Mar.-Apr. and sporadically throughout the growing season, often sparsely arranged along the stems but sometimes densely flowering in spring |
Fruit
-brown, minute, and ornamentally inconspicuous |
Twig
-light green and very slender, with green winter buds that are very small |
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Culture
-partial sun to full shade
-performs best in rich, evenly moist, well-drained soils in partial shade, but is adaptable to soils of average fertility, soils of various pH, and occasional drought, once established, but is not tolerant of full sun, which quickly leads to decreased vigor and chlorotic foliage
-propagated primarily by rooted stem cuttings but also by crown division
-Dogbane Family, with vinca stem blight (Phomopsis livella) as a noticeable disease that occurs under constantly moist to wet conditions; it is a fungus that, although usually not life-threatening or causing large patches of the groundcover to die out, girdles a stem at its base and causes the stem and its foliage to turn black and brown as they die
-abundantly available in flats (as rooted plugs, in cell packs or peat pots), or in container form
-plant the plugs of groundcover about 1' apart, mulch at transplanting, and keep the planting evenly watered for the first season of establishment, to promote rooting-in of the plug and adventitious rooting at the nodes of the trailing stems |
Hardiness
-zones 3 to 8
Origin
-native to Europe and Western Asia
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Assets
-evergreen groundcover
-has sparse but attractive spring blossoms (rare for an evergreen groundcover)
Liabilities
-can become invasive beyond its intended boundaries (even into lawn areas) by its trailing and shallowly-rooting stems
-vinca stem blight will cause death of individual stems, with the resulting persistent brown foliage scattered among the living groundcover
retains some blown leaves and debris in autumn and winter
-declines and becomes chlorotic when improperly placed in full sun |
Function
-evergreen groundcover in shady locations at foundations, beds, raised planters, or under woody plants
Texture
-fine texture
-thick density |
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Varieties
and Cultivars
- Search
OSU PlantFacts for additional plants in this species
Alternates
-evergreen "viney" groundcovers (Euonymus fortunei var. coloratus, Hedera helix, Liriope spicata, Pachysandra terminalis, etc.) or evergreen woody groundcovers (Juniperus conferta,
Juniperus horizontalis, Juniperus procumbens, Microbiota decussata, etc.) |