Heatwave Blue With Eye Vinca is a dwarf bedding vinca with stunning grape-colored blooms and a distinctive eye marking that draws the gaze straight to its delicate flowers. This compact cultivar reaches just 8 inches tall and spreads 8 to 12 inches wide, making it remarkably heat and drought tolerant, one of the toughest bloomers you'll encounter in intense summer conditions. Hardy in zones 9 through 11 as a tropical perennial (though most gardeners grow it as an annual), it thrives in full sun and handles humidity without complaint, producing cheerful flowers from spring through frost.
Full Sun
Moderate
9-11
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Low
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The combination of grape-colored petals with a contrasting eye creates a flower that stops you in your tracks, and the plant itself is practically indestructible in heat. Compact, spreading growth makes it perfect for edging beds, massed plantings, or containers where it will flower prolifically without deadheading. This vinca soldiers through the conditions that wilt other ornamentals, maintaining its vigor even when temperatures soar and drought stress would reduce lesser plants to wilting shadows.
Heatwave Blue With Eye Vinca excels as a bedding plant for containers, borders, and mass plantings where its compact form and prolific blooming create visual impact without demanding constant maintenance. Its exceptional heat tolerance makes it invaluable in hot climates, southern gardens, and urban spaces where reflected heat from pavement can stress tender annuals. The dwarf habit and neat growth make it equally at home in window boxes, hanging baskets, and along garden edges.
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Start seeds indoors in warm conditions, maintaining soil temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit for reliable germination. Sow seeds 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date, as this cultivar appreciates a long growing season to reach mature size and establish flowering.
Transplant seedlings outdoors after all danger of frost has passed and soil temperatures have warmed to at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Space plants 9 inches apart to allow room for their mature spread of 8 to 12 inches. Harden off transplants gradually over a week to acclimate them to outdoor conditions before final planting.
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