How fast will Periwinkle (Vinca Major) spread?

Directly in front of our North facing front fence is a patch of dirt around 25 feet by 4 foot, and then the public pavement. This patch of weedy dirt against the fence is in mostly shade so we were thinking of just creating a maintenence free carpet of something there, such as maybe periwinkle, or geranium.

We want it to cover as quickly as possible. So here are a few questions from a novice -

1) Should we wait til spring to plant?
2) How many plants can we get away with to acheive quick coverage (limited budget)
3) Can other plants be eventually mixed in with periwinkle?

Thanks for any info!
Tree

 

Hi I love the word "dirt"

I would use Japanese "spurge" pachysandra their a green one and a varigated one which looks much nicer, flowers in the spring .

Its slow to start then will quickly cover , much better than what you first thought off. loves the shade as well tough as old boots (fully hardy) and underated as a good ground cover plant your site sound ideal , easy to propergate as well so buy a couple then take cuttings , you could under plant with bulbs as well, call it your spring border.


Spruce

 

Thanks Spruce

I've been looking at the Japanese Spurge on Google images and it looks ideal, thanks for pointing it out, I'd never heard of it before.
We are traveling passed the garden centre tomorrow, so hopefully the missus will let me pop in and get a few! ( i over spent last time we went) :/

Thanks again

I will now look up how to propagate it. cheers

Tree