Santolina chamaecyparissus
Common name: lavender cotton
Family: Asteraceae
Leaf: pinnately divided, dense, soft-textured, "milky-lavender-blue"(silvery) colour. 0.5-1" long, musky fragrance
Flowers: tight, mustard-yellow, button-like flowers, blooming mid-summer on stalks arising above the foliage
Height: 1-2'; Spread:2-3'
Habit: semi-woody, tender subshrub; Form: mounded
Culture: Grow in average, well-drained soils in full sun. Does well in rockier, sandier, drier soils which allow for sharp drainage. When first planting, however, it needs regular moisture, until established, when it will be drought tolerant. Does well in limey soils. Best to avoid organically rich and/or wet soils. Does not like high humidity, where they tend to get fungal diseases, and can then flop/splay open in the center. Deadhead flowers after flowering. It is god to prune/shear down in spring to maintain denser, rigorous growth- otherwise they become leggy. Can be cut right down to 2-3"woody stubby growth, as there are buds that go all the way down to the base. Can also be grown as an annual. Winter hardy to USDA zones 6-9. If planted in an area more north of these zones, best to plant in a more protected location with a winter mulch.
Uses: great option for xeroscaping, great specimen for groundcover designs, and/or knot gardens patters, herb gardens, rocks gardens, borders, dward hedge along walkways
Origin: western and central Mediterranean
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| Pruning a S. chamaecyparissus down to little stumps in the early spring |
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