Oh, The Horror!!!

in HiveGarden2 years ago (edited)

IMG_20220406_153051234.jpg

crappy photo of a very pretty flower which I will soon have in super abundance

text16.png

I intended to write a post about my seedlings, and of all the progress I am making on my veggie garden.

While pondering what to tell you all, I was absent-mindedly pulling up periwinkle, which was growing in a spot I had other plans for. Here's my first pull and the tiny area I managed to pry the stuff out of the ground in.

IMG_20220406_152947540 (1).jpg

another crappy photo - sorry!

text16.png

Now that I knew that this pulling of Vinca Major (commonly known deceptively as "periwinkle") would take some doing, I looked up to see just how much of the stuff I have.

It's everywhere!

text16.png

IMG_20220406_152953878.jpg

all across the north side of the house is covered in the stuff

IMG_20220406_153000845.jpg

Vinca creeping down toward my "lawn"

text16.png

all along my back fence!

IMG_20220406_153143711.jpg

a different variety under a rhododendron next to my garage

text16.png

As if that is not enough

I am quite excited about what I am going to do with this walkway, which probably hasn't been used in 20 years, but it's solid vinca! Not one other thing is growing back here, besides lovely moss.

I see lots of potential, but first, I gotta rid the space of periwinkle!

IMG_20220406_153027469.jpg

The entire walkway to a back door, both sides, nothing but vile vinca

I had this stuff in my last yard, but it stayed contained. I loved it back there, and was puzzled by @carolkean's loathing of it. Now I get it. Hey, Carol, any tips on how to get rid of this? I know (after spreading garlic mustard absolutely everywhere) not to put any of it in my compost pile. But how on earth do I get rid of it?!

And @futuremind, I know there are folks in this community who would be interested in your indoor garden. I am one of them!

text16.png

In case you want to know more

The plant has some excellent qualities. It will thrive and bloom under almost any sun conditions. It's very pretty while in bloom which it does for a good part of the season, and is evergreen, making it an excellent ground cover, as long as you don't intend to grow much of anything else besides trees and shrubs. This stuff has no business being in a flower bed though.

image.png

Here's a link to some more quick information about a plant some find pretty, but I now find to be a nuisance.

This is my entry to the Hive Garden Community's monthly garden journal challenge where the gardeners of Hive strut their stuff. I've learned a lot from these posts, so get over there and check out the gardens of the world! And show us yours while you are there.

Join The Hive Garden Community!

image.png


image.png

barn page break by @thekittygirl
all crappy photographs by me!

Sort:  

This is the post I've been waiting for! So exciting!!!!

I see lots of potential, but first, I gotta rid the space of periwinkle!

I see hoards of potential and vividly see the future of this space. It's going to be magical.

I can't wait to see your upcoming garden!

Thanks for the shout out, I'm in super gardening mode, heads to the seedlings for photos..

Have a great night my friend!

 2 years ago  

Now that this post is finished (they are so much work!!!), I'll play with my puppy and get my butt into bed. Puppies are cute, but they are exhausting!

 2 years ago  

IMG_20220402_155623982.jpg

this is Hazel on her first day. She was not a happy puppy! But now she runs and jumps for joy all the day long. Thank goodness puppies sleep a lot.

OMG so cute!
I'm so happy to see her cute face, she's adorable.
She loves you so much <3

 2 years ago  

She does! It's esteem building! I'm so much more happy. and I was hardly miserable.

I started writing a comment, but got carried away and made it into a post so it wouldn't sound like I was mocking your wonderful garden work...

https://peakd.com/@katharsisdrill/the-periwinkle

It sounds like the crab grass I deal with here, roots can go down to 12" and if a nodule of them is missed, it grows back....

 2 years ago  

I made the mistake of getting Buffalo grass. I found out later that it's roots can go down up to a metre! It's great in that I rarely need to go outside of the garden to get grass for the rabbits, but it's hell to keep out of the garden beds.

Some weeds are so darn cute. But if they take over the world, then they are no longer cute! Good luck with your walkway, @owasco.

 2 years ago  

Thank you!!! One of these days I must get over to the Ink Well!

I have wedelia in my yard, it has a yellow flower that looks like a little sunflower, the stuff is a nightmare and I can not seem to get rid of it. We have 2 acres and it has spread across over half of it.

 2 years ago  

oh that sounds horrible! I don't know what that is. I wonder if it's doing any good. When I pull up this vinca, the soil beneath it is black and friable. Really nice. I found a receipt for when this garden was put in, and it was more than 20 years ago, so something good is going on with this vinca, just can't grow much else along with it.

image.png
It is a ground cover and it "does" cover the ground. I see no use for it other than smothering everything else out, it will even grow up trees. I copied this picture from https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/groundcover/wedelia/wedelia-groundcover-plant because I am too lazy to go outside and take a picture of it, I do have a place in my yard that looks like this.

 2 years ago  

I love periwinkle but every few years I hack it back! Good luck!

 2 years ago  

Someone who knows the stuff! So I can see where the landscaper originally planted it, in six or so clumps, in one of my beds. I'm thinking of just keeping two of those clumps, keeping them hacked back, and pulling up everything else. What do you think of this plan? My garden is quite small, so I think I could probably stay on top of some of it.

 2 years ago  

Good question. What I like about it is it will grow trouble free where other things won't as long as it's happy there. I have spring bulbs that I plant in it and it hides them once they have bloomed. So some people like a lot of greenery and others like something more open with mulch surrounding the plants. I just wouldn't let it near your lawn. If you want to go back to two clumps, go for it. The beauty about gardening is you can always change your mind.

It's not considered a weed, here! Send me some?

 2 years ago  

hahaha that would probably be illegal. So it's not invasive there? Or people just like having it absolutely everywhere?

It's not a pest like you describe. I had some in a garden years ago and, come to think of it, haven't seen it in this village. And yes, export of plants is illegal... was fun in the thinking though 😄

 2 years ago  

Every winter we get soursobs galore. They are actually rather pretty in both the green ground cover and the cute yellow flowers, but they take over everywhere and are tough to get rid of. They are edible, however, so the chickens feast on them. Can you eat periwinkle at all?

 2 years ago  

It's toxic to humans and pets alike. So pretty! I have one patch that is going to be spectacular sometime today or tomorrow.

I had to look up soursobs. You must be in Australia. I wish I still had chickens. I'm tempted to get a few, now that I have a mini Australian Shepherd. Give her something to do in my too small yard.

 2 years ago  

Yes, Australia, although I think the plant hails from southern Africa. Sounds like you'd have to remove all the periwinkle of you got chickens then!

Firstly @owasco I am SO excited to have discovered #HiveGarden as a community! I Did not know it existed and came to read your post thanks to @Katharsisdrill writing his own 'garden' post in response to it.

This is what I LOVE about #Hive how it leads you down a path and you find more people and fun things to read.

I LOVE periwinkle as well, as having a big garden that needs 'neatness' here and there, it's a boon to shady tree lined areas, but I also know it can be a bugger to get rid of. I'd say mow it or use a strimmer on it and then find a good organic spray and just keep at it. Really, digging it would be the only One Season solution, but trim, spray in Spring and Autumn and maybe try to plant aggresive Annuals you love over it, like Petunias (if it's sunny) and let them block out the light. Have fun.

I'm currently making a new veg garden area at our place here on Cape Cod and am taking my old veg garden and converting it to more 'small orchard'. We've so many deer, rabbit, squirrel chipmunk that want ALL of our flowers and food, I have to fence it all.

Good luck and glad to have found #HiveGarden :)

 2 years ago  

The connections we make on Hive are truly special, I agree there. Thanks for the advice! My plan today is to rip it out by hand, however much I can after every rain. It's going faster than I thought it would. I might try to keep a patch under a tree and contain it.

 2 years ago  

Vinca has a habit of being invasive. To truly get rid of it takes a couple seasons of diligent weeding. Make sure that you pull it out before it flowers and eventually you will have depleted the seed banks in the soil

 2 years ago  

Sad but true!

 2 years ago  

Reminds me of bindweed. I saw it listed as "not so bad" in a book of weeds. I'm also concerned that a block away from my house I saw some bindweed taking over someone's bushes...
I was just complaining to another Hiver how weeds are the worst. It's their invasive habit that makes them so successful.
I would be interested in indoor garden content! I feel as though it is underrated. You saying that there's more of us out there encourages me to post about mine!

Ohhhh, Stacey! How I wish I had a quick and easy solution for un-doing the monoculture of vinca minor.
I'm still pulling it. I planted this invasive ground cover to choke out the poison ivy and Virginia stickseed, and ohhh how I am paying for it.

Beware the horsetail (another medicinal plant, dating back to dinosaur days, and native, so it's good right?) - you'll be digging six feet deep, or repairing busted up concrete in your driveway, if you try to establish this fascinating plant in your yard. I still have time (I think) to dig out what I planted....
A Native Gardening group at Facebook is of two minds about the horsetail. "Natives are not invasive. The correct term is aggressive." Name it what you will - others say this horsetail is destructive. The consensus seems to be "plant it in containers only."

I wrote:
Just when I had gotten some Equisetum hyemale or Equisetum arvense (not sure which) established here, I read that it can be extremely invasive (it's native! it's medicinal! I love it!). The time to stop it is NOW, but I'm thinking maybe this is the way to choke out the vinca minor I planted in hopes of choking out the poison ivy, Virginia Tickseed, and motherwort. Ha ha ha. I'm like the old lady who swallowed the fly. MUST I GET RID OF THIS.... how will I slow its advance, if I don't....
https://www.gardeningchannel.com/how-to-grow-or-eradicate-horsetail-plant/

I'll be pulling out periwinkle for years to come. Maybe if plant horsetail there, it'll choke out the vine. Or maybe I'll just swallow a horse.

Speaking of pretty blue flowers, here's another, very popular, but it will choke out every other ephemeral in your woodland understory:

Invasive Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica) has arrived in Fairlington Arbor. Like a lot of now invasive plants brought here from other places, it’s pretty. But don’t buy it! Don’t plant it! If you have it, dig it out - carefully – it’s toxic and can cause skin irritation. From Minnesota Wildflowers: “This is a classic case of gardening gone awry. Siberian Squill was brought to this country as an ornamental and is still sold in Minnesota and elsewhere, but it has also escaped into the wild and become invasive. It readily spreads itself and is difficult to get rid of, as broken roots often resprout. It is very hardy and cold tolerant and is left untouched by critters from voles to deer. Sadly, the same traits that make it attractive as a garden plant (besides the vivid color) are also what make it invasive.” More at https://minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/siberian-squill

 2 years ago  

HAHA the never ending battle! Fortunately for me, my yard is tiny. I managed to pull out all the vinca runners in one spot in a few days, and have only the originally planted crowns left. I might take out this entire bed - which is of heuchera, hosta, boxwood and grasses besides vinca - and plant perennial food plants there instead. We'll see. I have the rest of my life to get it done.

Glad to see you're back!