No More Vinca

I finally spent some time trying to get the small planting area next to the front stairs under control. In the rainy season it gets covered with Vinca and Oxalis albicans. The Oxalis is a California native but the Vinca is considered an invasive non-native.

Oxalis grows quickly once it rains and gets little yellow flowers on it, but then disappears just as quickly once it dries out. Here's a big patch of it under the pomegranate tree.



The Vinca also grows well when it rains but then sticks around and gets ropy and ugly and covers everything else. Here it is spilling over the stairs.

It catches a lot of debris and ends up looking ratty and unkempt.

Supposedly it was originally planted as a ground cover and because it gets little purple flowers which give it it's common name Periwinkle. But now it grows so tenaciously that it chokes waterways and can alter whole ecosystems. And it can make your stairway look messy. I decided to pull it all out.


Ah, doesn't that feel better?


Now you can see the agaves that I planted in there last year.


I haven't seen this little Agave victoriae reginae in months.