Fire the flames of passion this February with a blaze of pinks and red from this month’s most flamboyant bedding plant, vinca.
With its shiny green leaves and generous flowers in shades of red, coral, apricot, and peach and splashes of white, this annual is sure to liven up any garden.
According to Wikipedia vincas are subshrubs or herbaceous, and have slender trailing stems that are 1-2 metres long, but not growing more than 20-70 cm above ground; the stems frequently take root where they touch the ground, enabling the plant to spread widely.
The leaves are opposite, simple broad lanceolate to ovate, 1-9 cm long and 0,5-6 cm broad; they are evergreen in four species, but deciduous in the herbaceous V. herbacea, which dies back to the root system in winter.
Use vinca as a border, to weave colour through a bed, or to put on a show in container gardens. It has beautiful leaves too and when not in bloom, offers a neat, green edge to beds and paths.
Bright flowers and glossy leaves make vinca indispensable for season-long interest in your garden.
Add practically no maintenance to these colourful, drought-tolerant plants and you have a winning combination. Native to Madagascar, vinca acts as a splendid annual in all regions of SA. – Eugene Brink
Sources: The Bedding Plant Growers Association and Wikipedia
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