California Gardens - The Year Round Gardening Site

Santolina virens or S. rosmarinifolia - Green Lavender Cotton, Green Santolina

is a great addition to the fragrant garden. The fragrant foliage of these fine textured small shrubs provides the greatest incentive to plants the Green Santolina. You can use Santolina virens as a small hedge. Green Lavender Cotton is a historic component of the knot garden. The creamy yellow flowers provide a great contrast to the green foliage in the mid to late spring and sporadically through the Summer. The flowers quickly fade and look best if they are regularly removed. I shear Santolina virens in February or March as the new shoots start to push and then shear them again in the summer to remove the spent blooms. Santolina virens is quite drought tolerant once established and not forgiving about soggy conditions. The Green Lavender Cotton forms a low shrub, typically 18" tall by 2-3 feet wide. Plant in full sun, they will grow in light shade but look pretty straggly. Santolina chamaecyparissusis a great plant for attracting the Painted Lady, Gray Hairstreak, Mournful Duskywing Butterflies..I think you should just add Santolina virens to your butterfly garden. You might find Santolina virens listed under the name Santolina rosmarifolia by some growers.

Santolina virens, Green Lavender Cotton, Green Santolina

Pale creamy yellow flowers and green foliage of Santolina virens - Green Lavender Cotton. High resolution photos are part of our garden image collection.