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Out of control ground cover

SlrileySlriley Posts: 1
in Problem solving
I planted Vinca Minor in a shady boarder for ground cover and it has been very successful. Actually a little too successful. Most of the plants seem to manage to grow through it at present, however I am wondering if it may begin to out compete them for nutrients and especially water in the dry summers we are expecting. Should I remove it ? 


Posts

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I planted Vinca Minor once in a shady bed. A few years later I wished I hadn't. I had a very big garden and not enough time to keep it under control. I also read on this forum a while back that it's easy to dig up. It isn't. Now I would only grow it where I wasn't going to grow anything else.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @Slriley You could shear it back to ground level in the next few weeks assuming the flowers aren't already forming. You will get new fresh growth and a reasonable amount of control. It is also easier to see the individual clumps if you want to thin it out, newly emerging flowers should also be visible then and not hidden by old leaves. Welcome!
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    My neighbour has it and it frequently straggles into my garden.
    I find it quite easy to pull up usually, sometimes I need a small fork but I usually get to them early.
    Once it gets going it can get to be quite a thicket though


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    What other plants do you have in the border @Slriley? It may help to have a different set of plants altogether, and different ground cover  :)
    I've never found V. minor to be as thuggish as major, but that might just be differing conditions.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited January 2023
    Most efective groundcover is a bit like that.  You have to choose, groundcover or not.

    If you look at wild flowers in a hot summer, the most healthy are the ones all pushed together.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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