Santolina (gray cotton lavender) photos & tips

tkbell sent me a d-mail asking what my experience with this plant has been. We have 3 of them in various places in the garden.

This is an extremely xeric plant. It will live in those dry spots, sun or bright shade, where literally nothing else will. It behaves very similarly to lavender stoechas; excessive watering and rich soil make it flop over and eventually kill it.

I have had good luck with moderate pruning back, since unlike lavender it doesn't get woody (at least, not so far!). Ignorance is the key to this plant, the less you do it the happier it is. Putting it between 2 more upright plants seems to help support it in a mixed planting bed - see this one in the front yard between Aptenia cordifolia and a shrub Lantana. There are some dead parts to it I haven't cut out.

Here is a small young santolina on the side yard. And indeed, it has flopped over. I could use some bamboo stakes and prop it up unobtrusively.


This message was edited Oct 15, 2007 9:46 AM

Here is a comparison of my oldest santolina. It is in a fully shaded but open (bright shade) area. It is never watered and lives solely on runoff. It has flopped numerous times; I've pruned it back maybe once a year but it recovers every time so far.

Here it is when first planted, far right next to the shed in 2003.

Here's a close-up of what it looks like now. Quite a bit bigger, but still thriving.