When looking for a vibrant summer display for our garden beds, containers, and hanging baskets, many of us here in San Antonio look forward to planting vinca, a.k.a. periwinkle. It’s important to know that there are other vinca plants out there. We are talking about the Vinca that is also the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), NOT the vinca major or vinca minor which is more of a groundcover plant for part shade areas.Â
Vinca (Catharanthus roseus) are 5-petaled, hot-weather, sun-loving annuals that produce bright colors in shades of pink, hot pink, lavender-rose, red, apricot, and white with variations of all. You can find standard vinca that grow in an upright form, and trailing vinca that grow in a cascading form. Again, this makes them suitable for multiple areas of your landscape. We even have a few unique varieties that are hot commodities because they usually come in limited supplies. More about them later, but let’s see how to take care of these summer faves.
Growing Vinca in San Antonio
Start your vincas off successfully by utilizing raised beds in landscape plantings to ensure your flowers have good drainage. Potted specimens whether in containers or hanging baskets need a well-draining soil and drainage holes are a must. Wet feet (roots sitting in soggy soil) are simply not tolerated. As a matter of fact, let the soil border on drying out a bit between waterings.
Once vinca take off growing, they go! If you find your plants look a little “leggy” (kind of stretched out), shear them back. It’s ok, they’ll grow back in fuller and healthier. If they grow leggy pretty quickly, double check your sun exposure. Maybe your vinca just aren’t getting enough sun.
Summer is the season for vinca to shine. Plant too early in spring and you’ll have problems. Plant too late in fall and you won’t have them for long. Rainbow Gardens carries disease resistant varieties of vinca, and once the warm weather hits after cool spring temps have passed through, our tables are usually full of them. These flowers are true sun lovers, thriving in full sunshine (or very light shade). Vinca can generally see you all the way to mid fall with gorgeous color, but once cold weather returns they’ll let you know they’re done.
These look best planted in mass, so pick up a few six packs (of flowers, heh heh), and load them up in colorful pot for a brilliant burst of color. Or plant a bunch of them in the front of your garden beds for a sea of color.
As a bonus, I would like to highlight a couple of unique varieties of vinca/periwinkle that we’ve seen come through the nursery the past few years: Kawaii and Soiree. These vinca are just plain adorable and I will warn that when they hit the nursery one day, they could be gone the next.
The flowers are much smaller, and petals further apart, to where they look somewhat like little pinwheels. Same vibrant color, same heat tolerance, but in a more diminutive size. Keep your eyes peeled when you are walking the sunny side of the greenhouse for these petite beauties. (Both locations got some in yesterday, 6/14/23, but hurry!)
~The Happy Gardener, Lisa Mulroy
Love the Vinca information. Even in North Carolina we need heat lovers. Didn’t know about the planting window. Thank you, Happy Gardener!
Awww. You’re welcome mama! Thanks for always reading! —
My annual Vinca are still blooming in January in Austin! I planted them last spring. Should I cover during the freeze tonight or just let them die? Not sure if they’ll keep going or if I should replant in the spring.
HI Lynn,
Hopefully you made a decision already; sorry this reply probably gets to you late. I covered my Vinca because mine were blooming too, but Im not really expecting them to last. They really extended their season this year, and normally have already been bitten by the cold. They are annuals and will most likely fair better replanted in late spring when the heat rolls back in.
When do you expect the Trailing Vinca? I wish Rainbow Gardens had somewhere to know when these limited plants are available. Here one day gone the next, as you stated.
Hi Sheila,
Right now I am only seeing some cascading vinca in hanging baskets. We only have access to online inventory for our Bandera location because we recently transitioned to a POS system. You can create a customer profile at the link to request items and can be notified when they come in. At that time you can pay for item and we can hold it for you. For orders at Thousand Oaks, you will have to call for current availability.
Tried to add my updated Customer profile with the link as suggested in your reply.
rbg.vmlic.com
could not add customer
Hi Sheila,
So sorry that was a broken link. I tried this one and it worked. https://rbg.vmxllc.com/pos/public/signup.php
I just dont want to miss them when they come in. I have an upcoming vacation last week of march and 1st week of april.
Hi Bambi,
You probably don’t have to worry. When vinca starts to come in, we stock them consistently through the summer. Also, you can text our Bandera location with your request at 210-680-2394, and we can make a “wishlist” for you. We can then let you know when vinca comes in. If you make a customer profile with us, it is easy for us to find you in our system for future requests. And if you would like us to hold some for you, we can contact you and you can prepay and we will hold them.
If you shop at Thousand Oaks, you can contact them through: ordersthousand1@gmail.com
Links for Bandera location to text wish list or set up customer profile does not work.
Hi Sheila,
Bandera wish lists can be made through text. Text your info to (210) 680-2394. Or fill out a customer profile here: https://rbg.vmxllc.com/pos/public/signup.php
Hi Sheila,
Our periwinkles are still going strong in the Texas heat up here in Fort Worth. I was reading Neil Sperry’s gardening book, and it advises against growing periwinkles in the same bed year after year. We were planning to plant them every summer because they’ve done so well. Any idea why Sperry discourages annual planting?
Periwinkles can be affected by a fungus called Phytopthora blight. The fungal spores can remain in the soil for quite some time. It’s a precaution that helps prevent a total garden bed wipe-out from this fungal disease. Here’s a little infographic with some more info. It’s not guaranteed that you would get it your next planting, but this way you can help prevent it.