Description: from the Kutrov family, a perennial, evergreen, creeping or climbing plant with leathery, oppositely arranged, shiny leaves of dark or light green color. And also, with cream or golden spots or a border. Single flowers, consisting of 5 petals, are located in the axils of the leaves. Most often they are lilac or sky blue, less often – pink and white. Funnel-shaped corolla with a long, thin, cylindrical tube. The fruit is a leaflet.
- Homeland: Africa, Asia Minor, Mediterranean, Europe.
- Watering: regular in summer, does not require watering in winter. Does not need moisturizing.
- Illumination: penumbra.
- Propagation: seeds, cuttings and division of an adult plant.
- Content temperature: from +35 to -30 °С.
- Flowering: blooms profusely in early to mid-spring, then single flowers continue to bloom throughout the season.
Periwinkle large (Vinca major L.)
Perennial, evergreen, creeping plant with stems rooting along the entire length, forming dense decorative carpets. Leathery, glabrous, ovate leaves 4 to 8 cm long with cilia along the edge. Single blue flowers with a special shade – pervanche, up to 5 cm in diameter, located on a peduncle up to 40 cm high.
Flowering begins in May and lasts for 30-35 days. Periwinkle is a large winter-hardy plant, but in snowless frosty winters it requires shelter to save the leaves. The homeland of the plant is the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and the Crimea.
Periwinkle (Vinca minor L.)
Evergreen, creeping, perennial plant with a branching, up to 60 cm long stem. Whole leaves, oblong-elliptical, 3 to 5 cm long, leathery, shiny above, dark green in color, located on short petioles, retain their color until the next spring. Periwinkle small has single, funnel-shaped, blue flowers up to 2.5 cm in diameter and erect peduncles up to 20 cm high. It blooms from mid-May to mid-June for 25-30 days. Its fruit is a five-leaf leaf with few seeds.
The small periwinkle comes from the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and the south of the European part of Russia.
Periwinkle – growing in the garden
It is necessary to plant a plant in early spring or autumn during the dormant period. Periwinkle is best grown on loamy, moderately moist, humus-rich soils. For planting is ideal with diffused sunlight, a slightly shaded place. As a rule, a distance of 20-30 cm recedes between seedlings, but in order to get denser ornamental thickets in the shortest possible period of time, the plant must be planted per 1 sq. m 100 copies.
The plant is propagated both by seeds and by dividing the bush, or by cuttings 10-15 cm long, which take root easily and quickly.
The plant should be watered regularly 3-4 times a week during the warm season, but in the spring, during the period of active growth, the periwinkle needs more frequent and abundant watering, and to ensure the maximum duration of flowering, it is recommended to add phosphates to the water. In winter, watering is not required.
Periwinkle – caring for a garden plant
It is recommended to apply 30-40 g of urea per 1 sq. m. to the soil in the middle of spring, and the plant that has formed a carpet should be fed with humus or peat compost at the beginning and at the end of summer. Periwinkle – care also involves the application of mineral fertilizers in the warm season with a frequency of 1 time in 15-20 days. To maintain a neat and lush appearance of carpet thickets, it is necessary to cut the ends of the stems every year in spring, and the cut branches can be immediately planted in the ground. They will take root very quickly.
Periwinkle tolerates winter frosts well, but a young plant (up to 2 years old) is recommended to be warmed for the winter with a layer of fallen leaves or straw.
Periwinkle should be transplanted only if necessary and this should be done with whole sods, and if desired, in the fall, you can transplant part of the bush into a pot and grow it as a houseplant.