Vinca Minor Bowles Variety Ground Cover

Periwinkle Minor Bowles Variety is a cultivar of the species Periwinkle or Vinca Minor also going by the name of lesser or dwarf periwinkle. Native to central and southern Europe from Portugal north to the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and east to parts of Turkey, the name Vinca is derived from the Latin word vincire meaning to bind as in Roman times the creeping vines were used to make wreaths. Grown as ground cover, Periwinkle Minor Bowles variety provides a very effective evergreen weed suppressing ground cover in the garden throughout the year with masses of beautiful azure blue flowers nestling amongst the foliage from spring until summer, and very occasionally until autumn but less prolific. The leaves of Periwinkle Minor Bowles Variety are significantly smaller than the Greater Periwinkle, Vinca major. It can be quite invasive as the trailing stems will root where they touch the ground, so it is best planted in larger gardens in areas where little maintenance is required or in spring controlling the growth by digging up any roots where they are not required. The plant can be trimmed in winter to tidy up any dead stems and leaf fall to encourage new growth in spring.

Vinca Minor Bowles Variety, sometimes called Bowles Blue or La Grave, will form a low carpet of growth up to about 10cm so is very useful if low growing ground cover is required. As with most varieties of Vinca or Periwinkle, Bowles Variety is a hardy, easy to establish plant which once rooted will be very drought tolerant. It can grow in any reasonable soil in full sun or partial shade so is very versatile giving early colour to the garden to attract insects.

You can purchase Periwinkle Minor Bowles Variety as pot grown in order that you may plant throughout the year, making the planning of the garden design easier. Delivery is free on orders over £50 (ex VAT) and we offer generous quantity discounts.

Please ring one of our team if you have any questions and we will endeavour to help.

Delivery leadtimes update- March/April 2024

We are working at maximum capacity to fulfil all orders as quickly as possible but owing to unprecedented demand some orders will take longer:

– Orders containing only bare root plants – delivery is currently within 5-7 days

– All other orders – delivery is currently within 2-3 weeks

Delivery is free for most orders above our free delivery thresholds, these are displayed above our prices in the product listings and summarized below. If you don’t need that many plants it’s not a problem, you can choose to pay our delivery charge and only order what you need.

Delivery is convenient – no signature is required so you don’t need to wait in, we will leave your parcel in the safe place that you nominate.

Delivery is fast – because we pick orders daily from our own growing beds your plants only travel the small hop to our packing shed before being sent to you, they are usually delivered within 3-7 days.

Delivery is reliable – we have been selling and delivering Hedging Plants to our customers nationwide since 1992. We have a lot of experience in packing them safely and only use tried and tested delivery partners.

Smaller Plants (Parcel Delivery)

Heavy Plants (Pallet Delivery)

Tall Plants 2.5m+ (Specialist Delivery)

Exceptions to our delivery charges are Scottish Highland and Isle of Wight delivery areas where we need to charge a little extra to cover the cost of deliveries to these outlying areas. We don’t currently delivery to other offshore addresses including Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.

Tall plants over 2.5 metres have to be delivered by our own specialised transport, our delivery area is limited to mainland England and Wales only.

Please note there is a minimum order value of £50 for orders containing smaller plants and £250 for orders containing heavier plants

Complete delivery information can be viewed on our Delivery Information page