Can anyone ID this spreading vine? It's invading my dad's garden, and he has tried brush killer, kudzu killer, etc., but this stuff will not die! He's located near Atlanta, GA.

Looks similar to my Asian Jasmine except the leaves are wider.

I'm so not good at comparing photos for identification but I think Brazilian Jasmine (Jasminum fluminense) is considered invasive in Georgia and other states.

More photos for comparison here: http://www.invasive.org/browse... and this isn't in English but shows a good photo of leaves for comparison: http://luirig.altervista.org/p...

And, Asian Jasmine, J. nudiflorum is considered a non-native invasive in some areas but the leaves don't look quite right for it.
Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum)
http://www.efloras.org/object_...

Looks like Vinca major or minor, Periwinkle.

https://gobotany.newenglandwil...

So glad @JRsbugs popped in! Janet You are amazing at identifying plants (and of course bugs)!



Edited to add: Both are found in Georgia:

http://uswildflowers.com/detai...
http://uswildflowers.com/detai...

Vinca major was my first thought when I looked at the picture too, but what made me hesitate to post was the length of the petioles, they seem longer in Jessie's picture than the pictures of V. major I Googled and I don't have a plant handy this year. Perhaps the petiole lengths vary, maybe lower ones are longer? Jessie, has it flowered at any time? The flowers should be a real give-away.

There are subspecies of Vinca major.

http://climbers.lsa.umich.edu/...

http://www.invasive.org/weedcd...

http://www.csuchico.edu/bcep/s...

petiole 5-20 mm long

20mm is over 3/4 of an inch.

http://swbiodiversity.org/sein...

Click 'more images' on the above.

Thanks, Janet, I had looked at most of those, and had also seen in text that the petiole could be up to 2.5 cms, but comparing the pictures with Jessie's picture they just didn't look as long. I'm quite prepared for it to be Vinca major, I just had a little niggling doubt that it might be something similar with which I'm not familiar.

Thanks Sue, Janet, and Lin! This is growing at the edge of my Dad's yard, and I have never really noticed flowers on it, but then again, I wasn't looking. I will keep an eye out. Any ideas for killing the stuff if it is Vinca Major?

This article by the US Forestry Service may be useful, you'll have to scroll down a way for the control suggestions.

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/...

I've never tried to kill it, having mostly just grown the variegated one in hanging baskets.

The flowers are fairly big and blue, so should be easy to see.

The easiest and best way to get rid of it (assuming you want to as it has it's uses in the right place) is to pull it up, the stolons are shallow rooted. You might have to keep a watch on it to pull any further growths out. If you use other destructive methods you might be damaging native plants (or insects), if there is any.

Under MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

Periwinkles are popular ornamental groundcovers [10,37,68]. Their establishment in North America is largely due to their escape from cultivation [29,42,50,51,55,92,97,100,103,107]. Common periwinkle is easily propagated by cuttings [66]. Common periwinkle was planted for erosion control near Washington, DC [37]. Periwinkles are valued medicinal herbs (reviews by [7,81]), and common periwinkle is considered an aphrodisiac (review by [81]).

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/...

I go after vinca with a shovel.
Last year, a home owner wanted me to attempt to eradicate vinca after someone else had gone after it with a strimmer...
Needless to say... don't use a strimmer on it... like japanese honeysuckle, using a strimmer just gets you a worse problem, and there's nothing to grab a hold of... this year... that same home owner allowed another yard guy to put poison on it... then wanted me to dig the nasty stuff... I begged off.
Prolly should stick to one solution...



That stuff crowds out everything in it's path... and not much stops it...

Here's some interesting pictures...
http://www.cal-ipc.org/landsca...

As much as I hate to advise the use of chems, that might be your best bet, I've not had much trouble pulling up vinca minor, but it takes a few years to get it all.
Plants with slick, glossy, waxy leaves are impervious to most spray that's available to home gardeners, if you have a sprayers license, then there are some that can kill them.
The one I have trouble with is wintercreeper, creeping winter berry.
Just try to pull it out! Ha!
The best spray I've found is called crossbow, it nukes everything!
Overspray will systemically kill or damage plants around it, and drips in the soil will be taken up by surrounding plants and kill them too!
Best of luck!

That's why I always try Round Up first. It has no soil life. But again, those waxy leaves don't allow the chemical to penetrate them easily. If it could be mowed down to stumps, , as apposed to leaves, It might work.

Oh, roundup is just as bad for those things, just less potent.
I use the concentrate as a stump killer, but if you pour in the soil it'll nuke everything around.
Basically all chemical herbicide, and pesticide, is required by law to break down in soil in 10 days or less, usually oxidize. Sadly for most consumers, "organic" charms ate not bound by the same laws, and can linger for much longer!
Physical extraction is always best in my eyes, but with some plants, it's just a waste of time, for some plants its beneficial to them when we go in, and rip them to pieces.
I'm just unsure how insidious vinca can be, hopefully it's nothing like wintercreeper!
Damn that stuff! And the lazy know nothing landscapers that have riddled the countryside with it...
I spotted it for sale at lowes this week even! Not even the variegated form, just the plain green one, which I'm firmly convinced its roots run all the way down to hell!

Swayback said:

I'm just unsure how insidious vinca can be, hopefully it's nothing like wintercreeper!
Damn that stuff! And the lazy know nothing landscapers that have riddled the countryside with it...

It's just as bad....

Here's my wintercreeper maintainance plan:

http://stonethegardener.tumblr...

I have had Vinca major growing along a fence which was already here, it used to annoy me as it grew from amongst shrubs which the neighbour had planted close to the fence. It isn't deep root and is easy to pull out, it's when they are protected by growing amongst other roots which makes it difficult. It's now growing at the base of a Hawthorn hedge, I pull some out but do like to see the flowers.

Periwinkles are "fairly deep-rooted" (review by [79]). Common periwinkle plants in western Montana exhibited fibrous roots ranging from 1 to 3 inches (3-8 cm) long [96]. Further descriptions of roots were unavailable as of 2009.

1 to 3 inches isn't long, and when growing in leaf litter they come out easily.

Under •BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/...

Thanks for all the help guys!