Vinca major ‘Variegata’ AGM

Variegated greater periwinkle –

This beautiful variegated form used to be called ‘Elegantissima’, which is a rather more imaginative name for a plant that is a far cry from the thuggish plain-leaved original. Some gardeners might still find it a little over-enthusiastic but I find it relatively easy to keep in check.

It’s often described as a carpeter or a ground cover plant which it is not; it spreads by runners much as a strawberry plant does and therefore happily co-exists among its neighbours. If you don’t like the direction these runners are taking, you just pull them out.

This is an evergreen sub-shrub, low growing (to about to 45 cm), and where its runners root, it forms a clump of leafy stems whose foliage is unevenly edged with a creamy margin. For me it is not a prolific flowerer but this is probably because it has to put up with too much shade; however, the foliage alone does a very good job of brightening up this shady corner of our garden.

You do get more flowers in full sun, and they are a very attractive and welcome sight at this time of the year: of generous size, violet-blue in colour, they appear intermittently over a long season. It’s a good choice to plant under deciduous trees or shrubs, and it would also be excellent on a bank where it could romp away to its heart’s content.

It’s often my go-to foliage and especially at this time of the year.

NB Louise has published a beautifully produced book of her plant profiles – A Plant for Each Week of the Year. It costs £9.99 and is for sale in our online shop here.

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