PlantFiles: Rose Periwinkle, Cayenne Jasmine, Madagascar Periwinkle, Old Maid, Vinca
Catharanthus roseus

If you're interested in new colors for this plant check NCSU's list of annuals, they have a bunch of new ones (colors that is) The picture that comes up when you search for Catharanthus roseus is a cranberry colored one that I have never seen.

The lavender ones pop up all over my garden and bloom constantly. I've bought some pretty colors over the years that actually have lasted a few seasons. My favorite was a light pink with dark pink in the center this past year. I had a very dark bright pink one that lasted four years, even after frozen to the ground each winter would come back fuller. Most freeze when too many nights below thirty, however I see some that have made it through so far. I do have to pull seedlings out of areas I don't want sometimes but it is never an overwhelming amount.

Wonderful plant here in the AZ desert. Best if planted in afternoon shade as it will bloom repeatedly and retain its deep green foliage. If put in full sun where soil is dryer, plants get lanky, foliage turns light green to yellow and may only put out 1-3 blooms per plant. Too many folks here make that mistake. But, put it in late shade with enough water and it will reward you with beautiful blooms as well as offer seedlings the following year.

According to some nature-cure therapists, eating two white flowers of this plant daily will have the blood sugar level in check.

I love this plant. Its perfect in the hot summers and for those areas where you dont know what else to plant. This year im gonna try planting in containers.

love this plant.hardy and beautiful.i hardly watered it at all.

Really not a good idea to use this material in FL. I have found some in natural areas too. Let's put it this way, I put one flower in the ground next to my driveway in the summer. It withstood the hurricanes and me driving over it constantly with my truck. The one flower has turned into a 36" diameter patch of beauty-ful flowers that persist in only a few months time. I know it looks nice but it's not a friendly plant. I think I'm going to go pull it out now.

This plant is exteremly hardy and tough able to withstand almost all conditions. pokerboy.

I like these as they are showy, hardy and great variety of colors. I've has some for several years. I find the leaves will go a bit yellow if it gets to hot/dry. Nice cut flowers, buds will keep maturing and opening for days and sometimes the color will change as they do. Used to only see basic white and purple, thought other colors were hybrids. Is this so or are scarlets, pinks, bicolors, etc all rosea?? fancy colors don't seem to seed as well as basics. reported to be native to W.Indies

In my experience this plant perfers warm, dry conditions but not too dry, and not too hot. Flowers more in full sun, but is a lot lusher and darker green in the shade. Good for hanging over raised flower beds or a groundcover. Roots when the tip touches moist soil. I really like this plant though you need to keep an eye on it every now and then because if it gets too dry or too wet it can die on you pretty quick.

According to the culture notes on this site, periwinkle grows in alkaline soil. Central Florida is typically acidic soils, and it grows fine here. I like this tender perennial because it is a tough plant. Against my old house, two or three overwintered for years and delighted my housemate the non-gardener. If it was truely invasive, it would have followed me here via seeds when we moved, and it does not seem to have done that. It is pretty, it is easy to propagate, it is easy to move or weed out where not wanted, it is not so poisonous as to kill babies, bees do indeed treasure it. I had a pure white mutant for awhile, too.

This pretty plant has naturalized in St. Petersburg, Florida, zone 9b, and can be found everywhere, in all colors. It is bright and tropical looking and always looks neat, as the flowers don't linger, but rapidly replace one another. I especially like the look of the white ones, with yellow, red or purple centers, which shine against the dark green foliage.

In Central Florida once you have this plant, you will always have it. I never noticed any fungal damage, but St. Petersburg is now part of the Tampa Bay "urban heat zone," and does not seem to get as much rain as it once did, which seems strange, as it is on a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides.

It grows spontaneously, and may be invasive. As many Apocynaceae, this plant is also poisonous, being a danger to kids and pets

Yet another easy to grow plant. The only time I have had any trouble growing them is when my mother and I planted them around her pool. The chlorine killed them.

For my own experience, I simply plant a small plant in the ground, water well, and pretty much ignore. They have a nice "clean" fragrance, though not very strong. I think the leaves have more smell than the flowers. They seed well, I started with two plants and now have several dozen.

I noticed that the traditional lavender pink colour can get a bit larger than the ones that were purchased at stores. I dug up one of mine from a neighbors yard (it was offered) and it has gotten to be at least two feet tall. It is kind of leggy, but pruning will keep them more compact.

The seeds are easy to grow. I pretty much just sprinkle them around in the area I want them and water twice a week. I don't prepare the soil or bury them.

I live in Zone 9a and mine tend to grow better in partial sun than full sun, and I have also had them grow just fine in the shade, though not as rigorous.

Don't buy plants until the weather is all the way warm. We call the fungus that spreads like wildfire through the plants in cool weather 'Vinca Death'. But Vinca shines through the hot weather with minimal watering in hot planters. One year we gave them regular fertilizer and got big plants with strangely large leaves (we called them Space Vinca.) Now we never ferilize them.

This is a plant you can always count on to fill in empty spaces in your flower beds or planters. So many colors to pick from and easy to care for.

Love this plant, it grows so well in our southwestern hot, dry areas. Give it a little water and leave it alone. Too much water will cause root rot. Go light on the fertilizer or don't fertilize at all.

Beautiful in containers and window boxes.

This plant has a compact habit and is a profuse bloomer in white, pink, rosy red, magenta or purple shades.Sometimes they have a red eye. A choice addition to the mixed border as it has an extra-long blooming period from about mid-June to the first frost. In warm zones, it is grown as a perennial and blooms year-round. The carefree flowers tolerate hot and dry or humid climates and the blossoms do not need deadheading. The old blossoms will fall right off and new ones will keep blooming. Color varies from a deep pink to red, coral, light pink, lavender or white. Soil must be moist but well-drained as too much moisture could lead to bacterial fungus or stem rot. The cultivar 'Pretty in Pink' will aid in repeling nematodes

A tender perennial grown as an annual in many places, it flowers prolifically in hot, dry climates and relatively infertile soils. This species was formerly known as Vinca rosea, and has the alternative common name of Vinca. (But hould not be confused with the perennial groundcovers, Vinca minor or Vinca major)

The glossy green leaves provide a background for five-petaled flowers, which range from pink, red, purple to white and bi-colored flowers. These are reliable performers for me in middle Tennessee, especially in areas that receive a lot of sun. They might droop a bit in late afternoon, but a little water perks them right up.