<em>Santolina</em>: planting, caring for, pruning
Contents
Santolina in a nutshell
- Santolina, like lavender, with its fine aromatic evergreen grey or green foliage, will brighten the garden even in winter
- An essential perennial shrub for dry gardens, with summer flowering in bright yellow or cream-white pompoms
- It forms a dense, very luminous cushion and is low-maintenance
- Hardy and undemanding, perfectly adapted to drought, it grows in full sun in very free-draining, poor, stony soil
- An emblematic plant for rockeries, dry banks, low hedges and gravel gardens
A word from our expert
Like lavender, Santolina or santolina immediately evokes the garrigue and Midi sunshine from which it originates. If not used in cooking, Santolina is an essential perennial shrub in dry gardens.
From the grey Santolina ( Santolina chamaecyparissus) or ‘little cypress‘, to the green Santolina with rosemary-like leaves, this small bush typically from the south is prized for its evergreen, aromatic foliage, topped by a summer flowering in yellow or cream pompoms in the white Santolina (Santolina pinnata subsp neapolitana ‘Edward Bowles’).
Rather hardy for a Mediterranean plant, Santolina fears neither drought, nor sea spray, nor poor soils, it likes arid ground and free-draining, poor and rather calcareous soils. In rockeries, as an edging, in low hedging or in a pot, adopt it!
Its dried flowers will scent your linen cupboards and serve as ‘moth repellent!’
How to prune Santolina, how to pair it well in a contemporary garden or sun-loving naturalistic garden, discover advice from our gardening experts and our collection of Santolinas.
And be inspired by our ideas for pairings with our Mediterranean perennials and plants for dry garden.
Description and botany
Botanical data
- Latin name Santolina
- Family Asteraceae
- Common name Santolina, little cypress
- Flowering June to September
- Height 0.30 to 0.75 m
- Sun exposure sun
- Soil type all well-drained
- Hardiness -15°C
Small bush or shrub of large family Asteraceae, Santolina or santolina grows on rocky ground and on dry slopes of Mediterranean regions. This garrigue plant has long been cultivated in gardens of southern France. The genus, more diverse than it appears, includes 18 species divided between grey santolinas and green santolinas. The best-known and hardiest is the silver santolina, Santolina chamaecyparissus, also known as Santolina ‘little cypress’. There are also horticultural hybrids such as Santolina ‘Lemon Fizz’ with beautiful zesty green foliage.
This woody perennial forms a compact, rounded bush tuft with a short dry trunk of 30 to 75 cm in height, sometimes with up to 1 m in spread, depending on growing conditions. While stems are most often woody and prostrate, some santolinas form erect non-prostrate stems (Santolina serratifolia). Lateral shoots root very easily, spreading into very regular clumps. Growth is rapid and a santolina plant ages fairly quickly too.
Plant forms a dense cushion with fine foliage composed of entire or very dentate leaves, narrow-oblong, pinnatisect or pinnate, arranged alternately on very ramified branches. They differ from one species to another. They consist from base to tip of 4 ranks of small cylindrical lobes edged with very fine teeth in Santolina chamaecyparissus, evoking cypress scales and hence the nickname “little cypress”, in long feathery laces in Santolina pinnata. Flexible and glossy, they resemble rosemary leaves in Santolina rosmarinifolia.
They measure 2 to 8 cm long and are covered with a thick white felt or tomentum in grey santolinas (tomentose).
While this evergreen foliage is most often notable for its grey, grey-green or grey-white tones, some santolinas display a very bright lime-green foliage such as cultivar ‘Lemon Fizz’ or a deep green in Santolina rosmarinifolia.
Some santolinas: Santolina chamaecyparissus, Santolina ‘Edward Bowles’ and Santolina ‘Lemon Fizz’ with superb golden foliage
Very aromatic when crushed, this foliage exhales a pungent characteristic scent evoking bergamot, olive oil and turpentine. In sunny, hot situations, whole plant will diffuse a powerful peppery, camphorous and sweetish odour.
From this rounded bush emerge long fine pubescent or glabrous stems, each bearing at its tip small globular inflorescences. From June to September, small solitary heads 0.5 to 2 cm in diameter open. These little domed pom-poms, lacking ligules and surrounded by long bracts, are formed of tightly packed florets evoking small golden-yellow buttons (Santolina chamaecyparissus, S. serratifolia) or creamy white (‘Edward Bowles‘).
This melliferous flowering, remarkably abundant, renews continuously throughout summer, attracting very numerous pollinating insects, particularly bees.
These pretty pom-poms make very long-lasting dried bouquets.
Santolina is a Mediterranean plant that nevertheless tolerates cold fairly well down to -15°C, and grows throughout France. It is indispensable in coastal and Mediterranean gardens. In cold, damp regions it may begin to suffer from around -10°C and will prefer to be grown in a pot.
Naturally growing on dry slopes, Santolina is a dry-garden plant par excellence! It grows in full sun, in poor soil, preferably calcareous, even stony and rocky, and very well drained.
Versatile, Santolina integrates wonderfully into all gardens and in particular into a scree garden. It is also at ease in a rockery, as a silver or golden punctuation within a border, in a neat edging, a low hedge, tumbling down a dry bank, or in a pretty pot or trough on the terrace.
It also makes a very good groundcover.
Like lavender, santolina has many medicinal virtues. Santolina essential oil is renowned for its vermifuge and antispasmodic action. Its dried flowers are used in infusions and, placed in small sachets, will perfume wardrobes and repel moths.
Main species and varieties
From Santolina neapolitan ‘Edward Bowles’ with pale-yellow flowers to the bright ‘Lemon Fizz’ with acid-green foliage, choice of santolinas is broader than it appears.
Most widespread and hardiest is silver santolina, Santolina chamaecyparissus or ‘little cypress’. Santolina serratifolia, a very pretty botanical santolina with well-erect stems, Santolina pinnata ssp. neapolinata, syn. S. tomentosa, a species often represented by cultivar ‘Edward Bowles’ with feathery foliage, and santolina rosmarinifolia (syn S. virens, S. viridis) with bright yellow flowers and fine, glossy foliage similar to rosemary, are also frequently encountered in cultivation.
Most popular
Santolina chamaecyparissus
- Flowering time July to September
- Height at maturity 40 cm
Our favourites
Santolina serratifolia
- Flowering time July to September
- Height at maturity 40 cm
Discover other Santoline - Lavender Cotton
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Planting
Where to plant Santolina?
Santolina is the Mediterranean plant par excellence! This rockery undershrub is perfectly equipped to withstand drought and long hot summers. It also tolerates sea spray very well in coastal gardens. From its origins it has retained a taste for arid, very free-draining, poor and stony soils in which it ages best. It will adapt to any ordinary soil provided it does not retain water.
It requires very free-draining soil because it fears heavy soils, especially in winter: soil saturated with water in summer as in winter will be fatal. With an honourable hardiness down to -12/-15°C in drained soil, it is recommended to grow it in a raised bed, sheltered by a south-facing wall, and in a pot to overwinter in the coldest, wettest regions.
It likes heat and full sun, which will deepen the colour of its foliage and intensify its pungent scent.
Santolina is a boon for dry ground where it forms pretty golden or silvery tufts all year round in large or small, very striking borders, as ribbons in neat low hedges, on rockeries and dry banks or to act as groundcover in the most inhospitable areas of the garden.
It is also useful for filling gaps in a border.
Santolina can also be grown in a pot on the terrace or balcony, to overwinter frost-free in the wettest regions.
Santolina surrounded by stipa, lavender and balls of boxwood
When to plant Santolina?
Santolina is planted in spring, in March–April after frosts when temperatures have warmed sufficiently, or in autumn from September to October in warm climates.
How to plant Santolina?
In open ground
In too heavy or clay soil, incorporate gravel or coarse sand at the bottom of the planting hole. If your ground is too wet, plant it on a slope or in a raised rockery. Space plants 30 to 50 cm apart, 20 to 30 cm for forming a hedge. Due to its strong growth, 1 plant per m2 is sufficient.
- Dig a hole 3 to 4 times wider than the rootball
- Work the excavated soil well to loosen it and enrich it with coarse sand or gravel
- Spread a bed of gravel at the bottom of the hole
- Place the Santolina in bucket in the middle of the planting hole, burying the collar well
- Backfill then firm lightly
- Water well at planting then moderately without flooding the roots
Succeed in planting your santolinas by following our advice in our video “How to plant a bush”
Growing Santolina in a pot
Santolina adapts very well to container culture; there are even small compact varieties such as Santolina chamaecyparissus ‘Nana’, perfect for this use.
The potting mix must be very free-draining to avoid stagnant moisture and root rot. Improve drainage with gravel, coarse sand, or stones.
- In a large container of at least 50 cm diameter, lay a good drainage layer (gravel or clay balls)
- Plant your Santolina in a mix of garden soil or potting compost for Mediterranean plants and coarse river sand or pumice
- Water at planting then sparingly
- In cold regions, store the pot over winter and bring it out again in spring
⇒ Discover everything you need to know: How to grow Santolina in a pot?
Care and maintenance
Santolina is an undemanding plant, truly very low-maintenance. As a bonus, it’s a robust plant that rarely gets ill provided soil remains well-drained: in overly wet soil it is susceptible to fungal diseases. Apart from regular pruning, it requires very little attention.
It stands up to sun without flinching and copes with long arid summers characteristic of Mediterranean climate, requiring no watering once well rooted. Water first summer after planting then only in case of prolonged drought and always sparingly.
In a pot, ensure waterings are less widely spaced by always letting substrate dry well between waterings.
No fertiliser is needed for this spartan plant; it is even discouraged — overly rich soil encourages its decline!
In regions north of the Loire, wrap aerial parts with winter fleece and bring potted Santolinas indoors before first frosts. Keep substrate almost dry during winter.
And follow our advice to properly care for perennials and protect your plants from cold
Santolinas edging a border
When and how to prune santolina?
Pruning Santolina is essential to keep a neat, compact, rounded habit. It tolerates regular pruning well at the end of winter and in summer, which prevents it from forming old wood.
- Each year in spring, in March, shear back the thickest young shoots by two-thirds of their length according to size of the plant
- Rejuvenate older plants by cutting them back to ground level each year at the end of winter
- During the season, in May or in summer, shorten the clump with pruning shear to even it up
- After flowering, simply cut spent stems with pruning shear as the plant tends to lose its shape: hang them upside down to dry to make dried bouquets
⇒ Find all our tips: How to prune Santolina?
Propagation
Santolina is easily propagated by semi-ripe cuttings in July–August. Sowing in spring or autumn with seeds from the previous year is possible but often more delicate.
Taking cuttings of Santolina
- Take lignified shoots without flowers but with a heel of about 10 cm
- Remove leaves from lower half of the stem
- Insert cuttings into a tray or into buckets in a well-draining mix of river sand and turf
- Keep substrate moist until rooting
- Protect your young plants from frost under a cold frame
- Plant out the following spring
- Pinch out tips of young plants so they become bushier
- Water well during first year after planting
⇒ Discover our tutorial : How to take a cutting from Santolina?
Companion planting with Santolina in the garden
Mediterranean plant par excellence, Santolina is indispensable in dry gardens and sun-baked wild areas, in a scree garden or rockery alongside drought-resistant perennials and Mediterranean perennials evoking garrigue, such as creeping rosemary, thymes and sages, cistus, helianthemums, armoise and sedums.
It also finds its place in all contemporary gardens near large agaves with a few small ornamental grasses such as Stipa pennata or Stipa tenuifolia, and in sun-loving natural gardens with California poppies, hollyhocks and dry-site euphorbias.
An example of a natural planting: left column –> Achillea millefolium ‘Cerise Queen’, Allium sphaerocephalon, Achillea millefollium ‘Wonderfull Wampee’, Stipa tenuifolia / right column –> Agastache ‘Black Adder’, Sanguisorba officinalis ‘Chocolate Tip’, Nepeta faassenii ‘Siw Hills Giant’ and Santolina ‘Edward Bowles’
Natural companion of lavenders, it is also a good plant to cover base of Mediterranean bushes such as oleanders, creeping broom or at foot of climbing roses or buddleia, paired with mini carnations.
On an arid bank, plant with a Delosperma at foot of small dry-soil bushes (Hertia cheirifolia, Hypericum olympicum), or beneath an olive tree.
Its attractive silvery foliage combines easily with complementary colours such as yellow of coreopsis, some heleniums and Iris germanica, a small potentilla, while its flowers provide a pretty contrast with blue flowers of caryopteris, ceanothus, aubrieta or Perovskia.
It will create a tableau of beautiful sheep-grey foliage when associated with an Artemisia or Helichrysum italicum.
Useful resources
- Here is a small selection of drought-resistant perennials, ideal for gardens without irrigation!
- What to plant in stony soil?
- Which plants for a sunny naturalistic garden?
- Discover Elizabeth’s Mediterranean garden!
Frequently asked questions
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Should santolinas be pruned?
Yes, pruning is recommended because it helps maintain santolina's dense, rounded habit and, above all, makes it less likely to produce old wood. Besides, this plant tolerates regular pruning well.
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