Cistus
Rockrose
Rockroses hail from the Mediterranean region and fortunately prosper in our mild climate. These stalwart evergreens are famed for their conspicuous, papery single flowers, resembling wild rose blossoms. Though they last only a day, they arrive in such profusion, carpeting the ground beneath, that one can count on color for 2 or 3 months. Fast growing and appreciative of well-drained sites, they tolerate drought, poor soil, ocean winds, salt spray and even desert heat. Cistus vary from low spreaders to tall imposing bushes, and are terrific for informal hedging and screens.
So named because of the ½ in. blood red spot at the base of each good-sized, paper-thin white petal, this dense, striking Cistus comes to us from Ken Montgomery of Boonville, California. Its deep green, glossy linear leaves and young stems are fragrant and sticky to the touch. Bold, deer resistant and adorned with eight-chambered brown seed pods, ‘Red Eye’ deserves to be displayed as a specimen.
Blooms March–May.
Size: 5' 0" high x 5' 0" – 6' 0" wide.
Hardy to zone 8.
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Other selections in this genus:
- Cistus x aguilarii ‘Maculatus’
- Cistus ‘Ann Baker’
- Cistus ‘Anne Palmer’
- Cistus creticus f. albus ‘Tania Compton’
- Cistus x dansereaui ‘Decumbens’
- Cistus x dansereaui ‘Jenkyn Place’
- Cistus ‘Jessamy Beauty’
- Cistus ladanifer var. petiolatus ‘Bennett’s White’
- Cistus x lenis ‘Grayswood Pink’
- Cistus ‘Little Gem’
- Cistus monspeliensis ‘Vicar’s Mead’
- Cistus x oblongifolius ‘’
- Cistus x pauranthus ‘Natacha’
- Cistus populifolius
- Cistus x purpureus ‘Alan Fradd’
- Cistus ‘Snow Fire’
- Cistus ‘Snow White’