Vinca minor

The Vinca minor, the lesser periwinkle, is much better suited for the ornamentation of our gardens than its cousin the greater periwinkle, which is invasive and grows somewhat anarchically in wild woodlands. The lesser periwinkle has a more compact growth, easy to control, a much neater appearance, but also a more generous spring flowering, with small stars of this absolutely delightful periwinkle blue. This creeping perennial plant is perfect for quickly covering difficult areas of soil, including the roots of trees and under conifers. It forms a dense and elegant carpet composed of evergreen leaves that are bright and shiny green, attractive all year round, even in the shade in dry soil during the summer.

The lesser periwinkle is a creeping perennial plant with woody stems from the Apocynaceae family, native to central and southern Europe. Common in France, it populates woodlands, the base of hedges, rocks, or even dry and sunny meadows. This plant develops from a woody climbing stem base, producing creeping or erect stems, forming a dense carpet 20 cm (8in) high and 1 m (3ft) or more in width. In contact with the ground, the stems produce vigorous roots that allow the plant to continue its lateral growth. The stems bear opposite, ovate, dark green, shiny leaves, and produce coiled buds throughout spring and sometimes again from September, which open into solitary terminal flowers, blue, tubular at the base, opening into 5 lobes of square, asymmetrical shape.

Periwinkles are useful ground covers that can sometimes become invasive in small gardens. They will even spread in shady areas, although they may be slightly less floriferous. They eventually form dense intermingled mats, effectively covering the ground under trees or bushes of whose roots they are not afraid, but also in rockeries or along pathways. In shade or partial shade, the lesser periwinkle can be planted with Acanthus mollis, Dichondra repens, Epimedium, dead nettles, or Wall pennywort (Cymbalaria muralis), in a slightly wild woodland, even under a hedge of cypress or thuja. The 'Gloire de Marengo' ivy, with its fabulous cream-variegated gray-green leaves, will form a beautiful combination with Vinca minor in regions where winter is not too harsh. In the sun, it can accompany, for example, snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum), thymes, Waldsteinia ternata, and many other ground covers. The lesser periwinkle can also be used in shaded hanging baskets and containers, to accompany annual plants.