Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In honor of the annual celebration of green, I thought I’d look in the garden to see what’s green on March 17th. There are plenty of little shoots, some iris and daylilies and bulbs getting started. But for plants that are well underway, looking like their full-grown selves, you have to check out the groundcovers. The periwinkle (Vinca spp, sometimes also called Creeping Myrtle) is good to go as soon as the snow melts back. Renowned for its weed-smothering abilities, this low-grower is a vigorous creeper that tolerates shade and is often used under trees or on difficult-to-maintain banks. At this time of year, its shiny, dark-green leaves are pretty attractive.
On the whole, I prefer the pachysandra (aka Japanese Spurge). Like the periwinkle, it is up and running, so to speak, as soon as the snow melts back. Its not quite as aggressive and dense as the periwinkle, and has a more upright habit. I find it’s light green, toothed leaves interesting. Like periwinkle, pachysandra is often grown in areas of deep shade. It won’t be too long before the periwinkle is producing its periwinkle-blue flowers. But the pachysandra has it beat hands down. Although its clusters of small white flowers aren’t as impressive as those of periwinkle, they’re already getting ready to bloom! Now, that’s an early start.
Willow House Chronicles 
Happy St Patrick’s Day to you and yours, Barefootheart.
Periwinkle always reminds me of Cabbagetown; many people there plant it in their tiny, shady front yards so they won’t have to mow anything.
I guess they would be good for that, LB, although I’d rather try hostas. I don’t find these groundcovers very interesting, but I suppose they have their place.
I was looking at pachysandra and periwinkle as lawn replacement options a little while ago. Not so great for a full sun area though, and you’d have to be careful they didn’t take over your neighbour’s lawn too.. Here’s a neat company that has a line of low-growing plants that can take foot traffic: http://www.stepables.com/
That’s a nice website. I’ve seen those plants at garden centres. Loblaws? Sobey’s? People may avoid walking on them though, even though they are resistant. Marion planted some thyme around a bench, thinking people would step on the thyme and release the scent and be able to enjoy it while seated, but people just avoided the bench because they didn’t want to hurt the thyme! Some, like creeping jenny, can go everywhere. You have to be prepared to live with it.