Friday, March 13, 2009

Vinca minor: foliage

Please don't plant this; it's invasive!

[Photo: Vinca minor foliage.]Vinca minor, known in English as "common periwinkle" or "lesser periwinkle" and in French as petite pervenche, is an evergreen trailing subshrub native to Eurasia with pretty blue flowers. Unfortunately, like English ivy, periwinkle is an invasive species here in Toronto. The Invasive Exotic Species Ranking for Southern Ontario puts it in Category 2: "Exotic species that are highly invasive but tend to only dominate certain niches or do not spread rapidly from major concentrations." Toronto's Urban Forestry Service recommends not planting periwinkle if you live in Toronto.

So yes, it's a very pretty plant, but it really is hard to justify growing it in our part of the world, especially when there are a zillion plants native to Toronto you could grow instead.

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