How to Care for Vinca Bowles Blue

Vinca minor "Bowles" is the most commonly cultivated form of this shade-loving ground cover because of its abundance of lavender-blue flowers. Because of its hardiness to U.S. Department of Agriculture planting zone 3, it is one of the most widely grown ground covers in the northeastern U.S. Its primary bloom time is in April, but it blooms off and on into the summer. It has a more mounding or clumping form, so requires more plants for coverage of an area. Vinca Bowles is usually sold as plugs, but can be found in larger containers.

Shovel
Compost or manure
Epsom salt
Fertilizer
Mower
Rake or blower
Fungicide

Instructions

- 1
  Plant your blue Bowles vincas in fertile, well-draining soil. Mix in 50 percent compost or manure for sandy or clay soils before planting. Space your plants, whether plugs or larger, 1 foot apart to allow the stems to grow down onto the soil and root.
- 2
  Sprinkle 1 tbsp. of Epsom salt around each plant and water in thoroughly to help the roots establish. Water the Vinca minor plants twice a week for a month, then once a week if there is not an inch of rain.
- 3
  Fertilize your Bowles vincas lightly one month after planting with a balanced all-purpose granular fertilizer, such as a 6-6-6 or 8-8-8. A high-nitrogen fertilizer may burn young plants and cause vegetative growth at the cost of flowers.
- 4
  Mow the vinca plants to 3 inches high in late winter if the mounds become too tall or dense. Watch for signs of fungal diseases such as vinca stem blight and treat with fungicides according to label directions.

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