Beautiful Weeds: Periwinkle

The first time I took any notice of this attractive plant was when I saw it growing in a Canberra garden where it was used as a ground cover beneath a deciduous tree in an island bed. This courtyard bed was surrounded by paving and the periwinkle was the only ground cover used there.  The plant was the lesser periwinkle - Vinca minor and it made an attractive low growing, yet dense, planting.

The distinctive windmill sail petals of the periwinkle

A year or two later I saw blue periwinkle - Vinca major, the larger ornamental species, growing in a large country garden. What appealed were the beautiful bluish single flowers along with the glossy dark green oval leaves. Now smitten by the plant I took a few rooted shoots home to my own garden and with a little care they soon thrived. That relocation was a bad mistake because within a couple of years the periwinkle soon spread throughout the shadier parts of my garden.  Instead of making a dense ground cover the plants habit was wiry and allowed other plants to grow through it. Soon realising that the plant was weedy I decided to rip the plant out of my garden. I now appreciate this beautiful plant in other peoples gardens rather than my own.

Periwinkle is often found growing 
in old cemeteries

The Vinca genus is a member of the Apocynaceae family, a poisonous tribe that includes the oleander and mandevilla.  The larger species is native to the Mediterranean area and prefers moist, shady sites.  Due to its popularity with home gardeners (sorry) the plant has become a garden escape in many areas.

Vinca major 'Variegata' 
growing among Asparagus

Vinca major flowers from late winter to spring. While most colours are bluish purple there is also a white cultivar. Another popular choice is the variegated form. The smaller sized species Vinca minor is native to south-west and central Europe and the Caucasus and grows in similar conditions to its larger cousin. The flowering period also lasts longer, from late winter to early summer. Roger Phillips and Martin Rix in their classic 1991 book Perennials (volume 1) list several cultivars: 'Albo-variegata' has white flowers and gold variegated leaves; 'Argenteo-variegata' has silver edged leaves; 'Atropurpurea' has deep-purplish-red flowers; and 'Flore Pleno' has double purplish-blue flowers, both with green leaves.

© Silas Clifford-Smith 2014

A heavenly garden

Whether you believe in an afterlife or not I think you will enjoy the following extract from Wilfrid Scawen Blunt's 1897 diaries.

... to be laid out to sleep in a garden, with running water near, and so to sleep for a hundred thousand years, then to be woke by a bird singing, and to call out to the person one loved best, 'Are you there?' and for her to answer, 'Yes, are you?' and so turn round and go to sleep again for another hundred thousand years.

Beautiful Weeds: mother of millions

It may seem a tad provocative to write about the aesthetic merits of weeds, but why not? There are so many weedy plants out there, and many are also - dare I say - attractive. Their visual charms may explain their spread and persistence as gardeners get tempted to take a piece home. In the first in what I hope to be a regular series I will  write about some of my "favourite" weedy plants. This month I take a look at the striking succulent herb Bryophyllum delagoense.

The flowers of most varieties certainly catch the eye

Also known as Kalanchoe tubiflora or Bryophyllum tubiflorum this plant is a native of the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar and is part of the large Crassulaceae family. The plant grows up to 1 metre and needs little help to make a dramatic display as long as it's growing in a sunny spot. In the southern hemisphere the plant flowers during the cooler months, mainly between May and October. But be warned, NEVER be tempted to take cuttings of this plant home as it soon lives up to its common name, mother of millions.

It may seem apt that mother of millions is growing on 
this woman's grave, perhaps she was as prolific a 
reproducer as the plant that shares her final resting place

In warm temperate areas this plant forms colonies on inaccessible edges of roadsides or in vacant land. There is quite a lot of variation in the flowers but the the pretty bright red form seems to be the most common in built up areas, suggesting that humans are the main vector. As well as humans this plant spreads during flooding and by seed. As well as being a noxious weed mother of millions is reported to be extremely poisonous, especially to cattle. Eradication is difficult once established. Bush regeneration and government weed management websites recommend a combination of physical removal, poison and even fire to control. For home gardeners it's best not to grow the plant in the first place.