Aromatic leaves and pale blue flowers make this shrub a worthy candidate for a sheltered border or a bed in front of a south facing wall. It has a lax habit, with graceful, arching white shoots and grey green leaves that are white and woolly beneath. Flowers appear in summer in stalks up to four inches long. It needs space as it spreads up to ten feet across but never grows taller than about three feet. It performs best in poor gritty soil, neutral or alkaline, and should be cut back to two or three buds above the base or permanent framework in early spring.
Propagation: Sow seed in a cold frame as soon as ripe. Take softwood cuttings in early summer, semi-ripe cuttings in midsummer. Both need bottom heat. |
There is something satisfying about this small sub-shrub, with its greyish woolly stems and leaves. As it grows, it forms a mound, and this makes it an excellent foil or background plant for showier items in a border. Its egg shaped leaves grow on erect, woody but woolly stems. The small flowers are white or a delicate pink, and appear from late spring to summer. This is a plant for a sunny border with poor, free draining soil, as it hails from rocky wasteland in Greece, Crete and Turkey. It may be cut back in spring to keep it compact. A mature plant will be about eighteen inches tall with a 24 inch spread.
Propagation: Root softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer. Root semi-ripe cuttings in early summer. |
This small evergreen from the Mediterranean has wonderfully silvered foliage that makes it a highly decorative shrub, ideal for a sheltered bed in front of a south facing wall. A member of the convolvulus family, its papery flowers are funnel shaped, white with yellow centres. They appear from late spring to summer. The two inch leaves have a silky feel and are often lance shaped. As it comes from rocky, arid terrain, this is a shrub that should be grown in poor to moderately fertile gritty soil in full sun. It may be kept in a pleasing symmetrical shape by pruning after flowering, but should only be about two feet tall, with a similar spread, when mature.
Propagation: Root softwood cuttings in late spring. Root greenwood cuttings in summer. |
