Vinca Major, how and where?

[MrsBertBibby]

I rescued one during some garden upheaval and it is sitting in a pot.

How do you use them? Will it scramble through a hedge, or is it strictly low down? I've never really grown them before.

Low down, very shady ground cover. I've known it grow very well in the darkest of shade, where little else would - though perhaps flower a bit less vigourously in that spot.

Under hedges or dense trees, anywhere that you could not get anything else to grow (e.g. grass). Round the shady sides of sheds and buildings.

That kind of thing.

IMO, unless you have a deep shade filled area where literally nothing grows I would think very carefully about releasing it from its pot.

We had vinca major in my childhood garden and it grows really fast and forms a thick, and imo not all that attractive, green plant with sparse flowers and smothers anything and everything growing around it.

I have some of the variegated type growing through a hedge. It was planted by the previous owners. It gets pruned with the hedge and is not a problem.

I have one in a pot (it's grown huge in a short space of time)
Interested to know where to plant it.

Do not release from its pot! It will take over everything and spread like crazy. I had one and it has taken me years to root it out. It grows like a weed.

It’s a fucking nightmare, don’t ever let it out. Stupidly bought some from a garden centre and put it in our front garden, expecting well-behaved ground cover. Instead I got an aggressive triffid that I’m still digging out four years later, as once it’s got it’s roots in, you. Can never get rid of it 😡

Interesting! Are those with bad experiences talking about the variegated kind, or the green?

I've got some (plain green) in a damp shady spot. It's in competition with other plants which also thrive there, I've let them fight it out over the years. It's invisible in summer, ok ground cover other times of year.

@MrsBertBibby

Interesting! Are those with bad experiences talking about the variegated kind, or the green?

Both! I haven’t got the green one, but the variegated one has got out of control, and defeats my attempts to get rid of it.

No. Burn it or bin it. Spent this summer digging out a large bed overgrown with the stuff. Hate it. Have a nice empty bed in the shade and now need to plant. Although it keeps popping up. So no do not plant.

ALL the kinds are terrible. Don't do it!

Vinca minor is pretty and stays under control. Vinca major is a pain - it is coming into our garden from next door (along with the ivy and ground elder) and I am forever pulling it.