The Blooming Period for Vinca Flowers

Flower Basics

• Vinca flowers crest from elongated, funnel-shaped corolla tubes and feature five rounded petals. Most vinca flowers are rosy pink with darker colored “eyes” and “throats,” but different cultivars are engineered to produce flowers in various shades of white, red, purple and pink. Vinca flowers emerge singularly and typically bloom from late spring up until the first frost, with peak flowering in mid- to late summer.

Culture

• Vinca will grow well in full sun or partial shade and moist, well-drained soil. The plant is tolerant of hot summers and periods of drought, but it does not like “wet feet” and will suffer from overwatering or poor drainage. Vinca performs best in loamy, sandy or otherwise poor soil. In fact, rich, fertile soil will inhibit flowering. Although it’s not necessary to deadhead flowers because spent blooms simply fall off, regularly pinching back new growth will ensure fuller plants.

Hybrids

• Several vinca hybrids have been developed to provide a longer bloom season. Hybrids in the “Viper” series produce larger flowers with overlapping petals in eight colors that reputedly bloom earlier than other vinca varieties. Because these hybrids are designed to endure daytime heat and humidity as well as cooler nighttime temperatures, they have a longer bloom period that extends into the fall. Examples in this series include “Viper Heat Elite Grape” with reddish-purple flowers and “Viper Heat Elite With Yellow Eye” with bright red blooms with yellow centers. Other hybrid series that offer prolonged flowering times include “Solar,” “Cora” and “Sunstorm.”

Cultivars

• Various cultivars and compact varieties of vinca provide non-stop flowering through summer into the fall. The “Carpet” series, for example, consists of spreading dwarf cultivars suitable to grow as ground covers, while the “Pretty” series offers compact plants with multicolored blooms. “Jams ‘N Jellies” is a long-lasting bloomer that features purple flowers that are so dark they almost appear to be black. The “Titan” series is said to bloom at least two weeks earlier than other vincas and yields 3-inch blooms -- the largest flower of all vincas.