Don’t be fooled by the adorable periwinkle flowers and evergreen leaves. Vinca is EVIL. I let it fester in my yard for too long, but I have finally choked out this invasive plant.
Vinca is like English ivy’s devious little cousin.
Since vinca is more attractive, less invasive, and still sold in some stores, it finds its way into the yards of unsuspecting gardeners. Then it gradually decimates all life.
Luckily, because it’s not as bad as ivy, vinca can be a bit easier to remove. Instead of the black plastic solarization method I used on ivy, I went with the cardboard and mulch smothering method to get rid of vinca.
Note: This article contains affiliate links. See my disclosures for details.
How to Kill Vinca With Cardboard
This easy method will work on a variety of invasive plants. Here’s how it works.
Materials
- Gloves
- Weed wacker or lawn mower (and safety gear)
- Cardboard
- Wood chips
- Rake
1. Remove Vinca From Nearby Plants
When left unchecked, vinca tends to invade surrounding plants, shrubs, trees…mailboxes, decks. Start by carefully pulling it away from everything you want to keep in your yard.
Try to rip out the vinca roots, since these areas won’t be under the smothering cardboard. Gardening gloves help.
Vinca was growing through my star jasmine plant, and it was tricky to tell the vines apart. The star jasmine had brown vines with some new green shoots, while the vinca had thinner, all green vines.
I sifted through the star jasmine and removed all the vinca I could find.
Vinca was also starting to climb up my tree and damage the bark. I gently pulled it off the tree.
2. Cut Vinca Down to the Ground
Next, cut the vinca down as close to the ground as possible. You might use a weed wacker or lawn mower (or flame thrower?), depending on your preference.
We used a battery-powered weed trimmer with a hardcore metal blade to chop it up. Then we threw away the big pile of vines.
At this point, it looks like the vinca is pretty much dead and gone, but you just know it’s going to spring back healthier than ever the next time it rains.
So…time for smothering!
3. Smother Vinca With Cardboard
Cardboard acts as a more natural weed barrier that will block the light and kill the vinca as it slowly breaks down and feeds the soil.
Use non-glossy cardboard, and remove any staples and tape. Lay it over the vinca roots, overlapping by about six inches to prevent gaps.
Some people also wet the cardboard to help hold it in place and start the decomposition process.
4. Cover the Area With Wood Chips
Now it’s time for the finishing move. Bury the vinca under wood chips or your favorite mulch to make sure it never sees the sun again.
We used a bow rake to spread the wood chips about six inches thick over the cardboard.
I expect there will be a few shoots of vinca trying to poke out around the edges and in my star jasmine, so I will remove those as they come up.
Over time, the chips will break down and feed the soil. The vinca roots will die, and the healthy soil will be ready for planting!
Free Wood Chips: I recently learned about ChipDrop, a free wood chip service that is changing my life. It connects homeowners and arborists, so you can get free or cheap wood chips for your garden, and the arborists can get rid of all their extra chips. You might also find similar services in your area. We got a full truckload to freshen up our yard (and smother this vinca!).
Is Vinca Really That Bad?
Some gardeners say vinca minor is less invasive than vinca major. Others love to use it as a pretty ground cover in shady areas where nothing else will grow.
But the tendency for vinca to sneakily take over yards and crowd out other greenery makes it a risky plant to keep.
Exhibit A. This was my poor star jasmine before and after vinca attacked it.
At first it was thriving and lush. Then the nearby vinca overtook it, and now the star jasmine is on the brink of death. It didn’t even flower this year.
Over by my mailbox, a second patch of vinca was constantly encroaching on other plants. It grew up through my pom pom boxwood and out the top.
So yes, vinca can be pretty bad.
But the good news is you can easily smother it, reclaim your yard and make room for better plants in the future.
Update: 1 Year Later
A year later, the results are still looking pretty good! As expected, there have been a few resilient sprouts popping up, especially around the edges and near other plants where I couldn’t use as many chips.
The first picture shows my star jasmine bouncing back, and the second picture shows a tiny vinca sprout, which was yanked shortly after the photo was taken.
Around my mailbox where I smothered another patch of vinca last year, I added some sun-loving plants this April. When I dug, there were no signs of vinca. Like my other vinca patch, this area has only had a few lingering sprouts along the edges where the chips weren’t as thick.
So definitely chip up. I recommend making the chips as thick as you can to choke out the vinca, and make sure the cardboard extends past the vinca roots to get those tricky borders. If needed, you could add another layer of cardboard and chips a year later to bury the sprouts again until any remaining seeds finally relent.
Wow! We have bought little Vinca plants at Lowes for our patio pots. (They do look different than the pic you show so maybe different varieties?) I didn’t know it was considered an invasive plant. (Of course here I don’t think there are very many plants that could become invasive although our cactus that we started from 3 pieces went crazy and we got rid of it. Our neighbor has Hollyhocks which go crazy every year. I consider them a weed although I did play with the blooms as a child making them into dolls. You can look that up online. lol) At least you caught these before they totally took over like the ivy and were then easier to get rid of! Right?! Great info I wasn’t aware of about Vinca!!
Not every state lists vinca as invasive, and I bet you are right…it probably wouldn’t be very invasive in Vegas! It’s definitely not as bad as ivy. It moves slower. But I thought I was watching it all these years until one day I finally realized how much it was damaging my star jasmine. It’s sneaky! And after working so hard to get rid of ivy, I have no patience for letting any other invasive plants grow around here!
I have heard some people transfer them to pots and hanging baskets to control them, because they are very pretty.
I didn’t want to kills the periwinkle, but just control it from clibing the shrubs. If I lay cardboard around the base of the shrub and cover it, wouldn’t that kill the shrub as well as stop the periwinkle from spreading? I’m just trying to find a way for both to live happily ever after . . .
Thanks for taking my question.
As long as the shrub is still exposed to the daylight, it will be fine and able to get water through the cardboard. I did a similar thing to remove English ivy — I covered all the ivy with black plastic up to the base of my shrubs and trees. Your shrub will definitely be happy to have more space between it and the periwinkle. 🙂 But I’m guessing it will be a yearly chore to keep that periwinkle from encroaching on the shrub.
I feel MUCH more confident going forward correcting this now problem. Your answer – and so quickly done – is very appreciated. Thank YOU! Take care.
Steve
Thanks, Steve! I’m glad I could help.
Me, too! I have thought of other options for this problem. But I have put way too much money into the yard now. . . I just wish that there was some native groundcover to western NY that would be fast growing, but not invasive to the rest of the vegetation. I think pachysandra can do the same as the myrtle is doing now. I hate to rip it out, but the shrubs are close together. I just hope the cardboard will leave enough of a gap between then at the ground level to work.
Again, I much appreciate your thoughts. Have a good day there and thanks again. Take care.
Steve
Thanks so much for the info to get rid of it! Do you know how to get rid of star of Bethlehem! It has 100s of tiny bulbs that can lay dormant for up to 6 years. It has vegetation like wild garlic, waxy, and we have tried every weed killer we can find. We have been told that the only way to get rid of it is to dig it up 6 “ around and under the plant to be sure all the bulbs are gone. It’s even worse.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks, Gail! I haven’t had to deal with star of Bethlehem, but I’ve heard that it’s very difficult. I think you are right, they need to be dug deeply, making sure that every bulb is removed. And then they might have re-seeded, so you’ll probably have to dig bulbs for several additional years until they are all gone. Sorry, that is no fun! In my yard I’ve been removing Spanish bluebells lately, and it is more difficult than I expected because the bulbs are so deep.
Hi Tara
Do you have pictures of how the mulched area looks now(2023). I’m about to embark on your suggestions and would love to know if u learned anything new.
Your info is so helpful.
thanks for all you do
Val
Hi Val! I just added an update and new photos to the end of the article. The area is still looking good! I am just getting a few little vinca sprouts along the edges where I couldn’t add thick enough chips to really smother it. So I recommend extending cardboard past the edges and really burying the vinca in deep chips as much as possible.
Thank you Tara!
I’m going to follow your guidance on this one. So happy to have found your site
Thanks, Val! Best of luck with your vinca removal!
I’m interested in converting areas that are now vinca to lawn. Do you think this same procedure would work if, instead of burying the cardboard with wood chips, I bury it with 6-8 inches of topsoil? Thanks for any advice!
It’s hard to say, but it seems like it should work if the soil is 8 inches deep on top of cardboard over all the vinca. But it might take a few seasons and a couple of tries to get it all because vinca is so persistent, so I would be a little worried about trying to seed a lawn right away. It might be better to dig up the vinca by hand during rainy season when the soil is soft, or wait a year after smothering the vinca to make sure it’s all dead before investing in a lawn.