Santolina chamaecyparissus – cotton lavender – Asteraceae

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Class summary: ‘Rosemary leaves’. Form shapes into good mounds. However, can split open in the centre. Needs steep slope to migrate and grow down towards – hiding or reducing splitting. Santolina rosmarinifolia/green cotton lavender is more saturated with green colour, fuzzier leaves and more of a disorganized form than this version. It is montane, denoting to low to the ground. Multi flowers inside.

Site: Evergreen, growing only to 1-2 feet, needing full sun, dry to medium, sandy soil that is well-drained, light watering, and is drought tolerant. Prefers limey soils, tolerates poor conditions but dislikes rich soil. Doesn’t like humid weather – fungal diseases. Yellow flowers should be dead headed. The shrub should be cut back in the winter, to encourage new growth and dense form. Grown as an annual. Zone 6-8.

Aesthetic: The density along with it’s consist structure, leads to a fantastic sculptural mounding plant. The colour is fantastic – cool, desaturated greens paired with bright lemon yellow flowers. This sculptural shape and colour tones could transcend well with a variety of accompanying shrubs – especially with contrasting colours (purples, i.e. lavenders) or monochromatic scheme (greens). There could be endless opportunities to create architectural foliage through shrub pairing, massing, borders etc. For example, the mounded form can correlate with similar shaped shrubs, leading to a compelling symmetry and contrast.

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