In mild winter areas dusty miller can be perennial. I don't know about your climate...

You likely got an annual vinca, often called periwinkle. It is a re-seeding annual. Vinca is particularly great in very hot sunny situations. It's the go-to plant in the Deep South.

Dusty miller is a hardy annual, but if the winters are mild enough they will winter over. The 3rd summer however they tend to get ratty and they send up a tall, large ugly seed head. So, yes when you were a kid it probably did come back occasionally.

Vinca or perriwinkle is used as a ground cover in milder climates. It does get viny. Yours probably isn't big enough to send out tendrils yet.

Dusty Miller is a tender perennial. I kind of like the yellow flowers, though. They do lose their compact shape once they flower, which is probably why most of us use them as annuals.

Your 'vinca' is probably Catharanthus roseus, also called Vinca, Periwinkle, or Madagascar Periwinkle. Most confusing! It is not a vine or a ground cover, but is at its best in a hot, sunny border or container. It, too, is a perennial, but typically used as an annual. In your climate, it won't come back next year. Catharanthus
loves the heat and sun and once established, is very drought tolerant.

The Vinca is Catharanthus roseus, I found it in the small print on the tag. Its considered a mounding annual. Will it re-seed itself?

I did plant it in full sun so it should be happy!

Are you sure it wasn't lamb's ear you were thinking of as a child? 12-18" tall, fuzzy white leaves that are not scalloped/.... maybe?

Oh and Catharanthus roseus will not re-seed in your climate, though weird-er things have happened. :)

Happy Gardening :)

Keriann~

No, I imagine it was Dusty Miller. I have it overwinter often in S.E. Ohio. I hate yellow flowers on white fuzzy plants, and that's exactly what it'll give you.