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Vinca minor 'Atropurpurea'$5.00
Purple-flowered periwinkle

Size: 3" high x 18" wide

Flowering time: Mar-Apr
Hardiness: zone 4a
Native range: Europe . Western Asia

Light:Full shade
Full sun
Moisture:Dry
Moist
Drainage:No drainage
Good drainage

Catalog code: 01D-0001
Category: Perennials

Provides winter interestNaturalizingTolerates foot trafficControls erosion

Vinca minor 'Atropurpurea'

©2007 Christopher P. Lindsey

This is my favorite Vinca cultivar of them all.

It's nearly the same as the regular vinca that we all know and love, but the flowers are a beautiful bright plum-purple and seem to float above the dark green foliage, adding brighter hues to the typically pastel spring landscape.

Like most Vinca vines it will produce fewer blooms in deep shade, so if you can give it partial shade it will be happiest. Mine fills an area under deciduous hollies and a large paper birch; hosta, ferns, and wildflowers come and go through the foliage like floral jack-in-the-boxes with the seasons.

Although it will fill a space faster if grown in organic, moist, well-drained soil, it will grow quite well in heavy clay as long as it gets adequate moisture.

Pot size: 4.5"sq x 3.5" (475 ml, or .5 quarts).