Vinca Minor Atropurpea

owendelacey

Hi All,

I have an area of my garden that only receives around 2 hours sun a day, and is sloped down towards the shed.  I don't want to put shingle there as there is already too much of that in the garden. Photos attached.

I thought about planting vinca minor there to cover the area, be low maintenance, and suppress weeds.

The area is approx 3m x 3m.  What would people advise regarding amount of plants to buy?  They seem to be sold in 9cm pots.  

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks
Owen

owendelacey

Thanks Phillipa, yes that looks like another good one to consider.

I'm ok being patient and not looking for instant effect.  Sometimes the more I read the more confused I get, as different books, websites etc suggest differing spreading distances of vinca.  
If anyone has any first hand experience of how far each plant would spread eventually I would be grateful to hear.  They won't get a lot of sun, but I will prepare the soil well.

Thanks

Brexiteer

I have 2 different ajuga plants and six of each plant has spread fantastic and are great for early bees

Lizzie27

My vinca alba (the white one) planted I guess about 2 years ago, has strands at least 6 ft long so far. I hate to think what's it doing on the neighbours side of the fence! They haven't complained yet though. If they do, I'll just rip it out.

Yviestevie

Vinca is a bit of a thug.  Mine has spread all along the fence behind the plants and every year I have a battle to rip out the runners.  It wouldn't be my plant of choice for any area.  I'd probably go with bulbs and maybe some evergreen sedges to lighten the space.

Loxley

Put them at about 2ft spacing, I think Vinca minor would be a better ground cover than Ajuga. Easy to contain in a space like that. You can shear it over to keep it in check. 

Personally I'd plant something more shrubby though, 3-4ft ht, rather than a flat ground cover. 

PeggyTX

owendelacey said:

Thanks Phillipa, yes that looks like another good one to consider.

I'm ok being patient and not looking for instant effect.  Sometimes the more I read the more confused I get, as different books, websites etc suggest differing spreading distances of vinca.  
If anyone has any first hand experience of how far each plant would spread eventually I would be grateful to hear.  They won't get a lot of sun, but I will prepare the soil well.

Thanks

Funny this should come up here today.  I was just reading up on Ajuga today! All the varieties I looked at, including Ajuga 'Reptans', said size at maturity was about 36", so it sprawls about 18" either side of plant center.  I'm looking at 'Chocolate Chip' for its bluish flowers to go in the back garden at our country cabin.  My husband love all blue flowers.  Hickory nut trees have killed out all the lawn back there and this would make a lovely ground cover to cover bare dirt and choke out weeds.  But I'm doing a much larger area, so it will be probably take 40-50 plants for my project.  Good luck with yours.  With hard surfaces on all sides of that area, you shouldn't have to worry about any ground cover getting out of control.  I do think Ajuga would be a nice choice there. But so would the vinca really.

hogweed

Vinca minor is a much better behaved planted than it big thuggish brother. % plants in 9cm pots would do to cover 1 square metre (rule of thumb for ground cover is 9 plants per square metre but I think that is overkill for vinca minor). You could always plants some ajuga as well. The purple leaves would contrast quite nicely with the purple vinca flowers. 

owendelacey

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Fairygirl

Ajuga can be every bit as much of a thug as vinca, but useful if you have a space where nothing else will grow. It'll grow in water or dry soil. London Pride [Saxifraga urbium] will also grow anywhere. 
As long as you keep an eye on them all you'll be ok @owendelacey
I'd personally put in something with a bit of height as well. Lots of good plants for shade - evergreen and deciduous.
You also have a nice wall there, so you could grow things which would sprawl over that a bit. A clematis would also be good - you could hide the shed a bit with it. There are loads which will be fine in that site. A piece of timber, or similar, against the base of the shed would give you more scope as it would remove the slope, and stop plants grwoing under it