I'm following this with interest. I have vinca minor in a compact woodland border with many ferns. Two considerations I had were 1) the border had been very dry over the years, and it was hard to create good cover; in other places in the garden I already had extensively used geraniums (macrorrhizum, renardii, cantabrigiense). and 2) I'd seen vinca minor coexisting in another garden with two ferns for decades. In that garden the vinca was occasionally tackled with shears and/or grabbing handfuls.
This year especially the weather has been very conducive to growth, so the vinca is growing with abandon. I am a little anxious, but still under the impression it can be managed without too much work. The main concern is if I can keep it to its patch; in that respect it promises to be higher maintenance than geraniums.
Finally, I've had Galium odorata and I consider that to be an incorrigible thug. It became a dense mat that started invading my dreams.
I'd like to claim that our mat was the result of an unusually vigorous growing season, but I'd be lying. It took 25 years to get that bad, so if you are on top of it already, then I'm sure you can manage to control it. I shall be trying to do the same. I am prepared to give Galium a go, on the expectation that my thug consciousness has been raised and I will be on the lookout for signs of world domination early on. I guess the bottom line is that anything that will spread to cover bare earth can't be expected to be sufficiently sentient to know when we want it to stop. Although if I had to designate a plant with enough vegetable cunning to outwit mankind, it'd be vinca, on the grounds that triffids are fictional.
Have followed this thread with interest. Please do keep us informed of what you eventually do with your blank canvas @CostumedVole. I have a vinca minor in a shady area between a shrub and a fence. It only went in last year, after I cleared (ha!) the area of ground elder so I want it to be more warlike.
Of course, I wasn't able to wait until Spring, or even Autumn, before doing anything... Here's where I've got to so far. I'm starting at the slightly lighter end and moving towards the fence, hoping to learn more about what will live under the trees by the time I get there. Of course, the things that will grow the biggest are currently the smallest plants there, apart from the 3 pots of Galium I got by post from *ahem* a very well known online nursery bearing a woman's name, and which arrived shrivelled almost to a crisp. I found another, bigger pot in excellent health from a local independent nursery, so the experiment is still on. We shall see which one wins, or whether the pachysandra I also got beats both of them. May the best plant win.
Posts
Of course, I wasn't able to wait until Spring, or even Autumn, before doing anything... Here's where I've got to so far. I'm starting at the slightly lighter end and moving towards the fence, hoping to learn more about what will live under the trees by the time I get there. Of course, the things that will grow the biggest are currently the smallest plants there, apart from the 3 pots of Galium I got by post from *ahem* a very well known online nursery bearing a woman's name, and which arrived shrivelled almost to a crisp. I found another, bigger pot in excellent health from a local independent nursery, so the experiment is still on. We shall see which one wins, or whether the pachysandra I also got beats both of them. May the best plant win.