The only thing good about another hot, dry day is that it brings out that lovely, sweet resinous scent of the cistus. As I'm walking around and working outside I appreciate it even more with the scent wafting through periodically. I'm growing quite a few cistus skanbergii right now, mainly because that's what I started with and it propagates from cuttings quite easily. My Momma plant is now about 5' tall which really pleases me even though I was under the impression for some reason that it would be a low mound. I have it growing in a strip along the dirt drive down the back...lean, rock hard, terrible soil, shaded by tall, slender eucalyptus until mid-day, then bakes and it's doing just fine. Other things planted there are having a hard time, though the pennisetum rubrum is holding it's own (doesn't get huge and lush as in the other areas with more soil/ water. Also the infamous fountain grass that runs wild here...it came in as supposedly the sterile one...(WRONG!), but I use it now anyway and pull the unwanted seedlings. I'm so pleased with the skanbergii that I've also planted there cistus 'Silver Pink', cistus 'Victor Reiter, and cistus creticus 'Lasithi' which have all become established now and also doing quite well. I also have the skanbergii growing next to salvia clevelandii and I like that combiation too. Anyone else growing other varieities of cistus? Know whether or not the other varieties can be propagated readily from cuttings?
Who's growing cistus?
I don't have any now (but I had a few at my old house). But I do have the intergeneric hybrid X Halimiocistus wintonensis. Mine is the 'Merrist Wood Cream' cultivar--it has creamy colored petals with a maroon center, very pretty! I've never tried to do cuttings of it since I can't root cuttings to save my life, but I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work for someone like you who can actually get things to root!
I've never heard of that one! I may have to start checking around....I sense another obsession in the making. My 3 newest ones are growing well enough now that I think it's time to try cuttings from them. Some things root for me,some don't...if they don't root, I then go with seed...at this point in life, I'm learning to take failure in stride...
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