Santolina, Gray Santolina, Ground Cypress, Lavender Cotton 'Nana'

I wanted this herb for a long time and kept killing it with overwatering in its pot. I finally put it in the ground in full sun with com...Read Morepost and sand in the hole prior to planting & ignored it. The garden club has it at the library's xeriscaped garden and it really pleases me whe I see it. I love its earthy scent. I watch for when they prune it to keep a plant that fills in and looks like I want it. I have air layered it's longer stems and it has trippled in size and contributes to grow in diameter . By clipping the tips discriminatly & regularly in the early spring and opening up the base,(not to much at any one time) it fills out and fill in to how lwant -a 'mounded ' shape. I don't know if after flowering it dies back, but I trim it often enough so it hasn't flowered. This year I'm trying to propagate my cutting using rooting hormone on longer cuttings, fingers crossed. I hope its successful because I want to put in with an ice plant in a mixed pot. Still trying to decide a plant that will compliment them in the center of the pot. I enjoy tending to this santolina A.k.a. Lavender cotton,described in my area plant guide put out by the River Authority as a "shurbby ground cover, fine textured, aromatic evergreen foliage; requires excellent drainage; not long live; green leaf species also available." Mines been going for 3 or 4 years now looks very healthy,and like my true lavender by air-layering it continues to grow.

I live in Virginia and bought this plant last year--it was called "lavender" ...but this year, after it had tripled in size and little ye...Read Morellow buds formed, I realized it wasn't lavender! A friend helped me identify it! It is beautiful, with a wonderful scent.

I love this plant. I used a few of them in an herb border, mixed in with lavender, Russian sage, culinary sage, white sagebrush, thyme, ...Read Moreand Rosemary. It has a beautiful whitish, silvery color, and an interesting leaf texture that contrasts nicely with that of the other plants. It also has a lovely aroma.

I'm in zone 4 (Duluth, MN) and haven't yet tried bringing this plant through the winter. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to dig it up and overwinter it in our heated (to 35 degrees F) garage, or to try to bring it through in the ground, since it is against a sunny south wall of our house.

I've seen this plant all over town, surviving in tough conditions. I wish I liked the way it looked. I haven't tried killing it in my o...Read Morewn yard, because it doesn't appeal to my tastes.