Santolina chamaecyparissus (Cotton Lavender) – Evergreen Shrub (2L Pot)

A low silver mound of finely cut, aromatic foliage, topped through the summer with bright yellow button flowers.

Cotton lavender comes from the Mediterranean and behaves like it. The silvery-grey leaves are the point, aromatic when you brush past and holding their colour all year, while the yellow buttons on slender stems bring bees to a hot corner. It settles into a dense mound that suppresses weeds, so it works as a low informal hedge, an edging along a gravel path, or a container against a sunny wall.

Give it an open, sunny spot in free-draining soil, poor ground included, and keep it out of anywhere that lies wet over winter, which finishes it off far more often than cold or drought ever will. It is genuinely good in an exposed seaside garden. Trim it hard every spring or it goes woody and gappy in the middle, and do not cut an old plant back into bare wood, because it rarely recovers. The aromatic foliage is usually left alone by deer and rabbits.

Supplied as an established plant in a 2 litre pot, ready to plant out or pot on.

Cultural Information

Common Name: Cotton lavender, lavender cotton

Fully Grown Height and Spread: 50 to 75cm tall and 60 to 90cm wide

Growth Habit: Compact and mound forming

Perfect For: Gravel and Mediterranean gardens, low informal hedging, sunny borders and containers

Foliage: Evergreen, silvery-grey, finely divided and aromatic

Flowering Time: Summer, bright yellow button flowers on slender stems

Planting Position: Full sun, including exposed coastal gardens, drought tolerant once established and happy in a container

Soil Type: Free-draining, poor to moderately fertile

Hardiness: Fully hardy across most of Britain as long as the soil drains freely

Maintenance: Low; one hard trim every spring keeps it dense

Seasonal Interest: Yellow flowers through the summer over silver foliage

Type: Evergreen shrub