Plant in full sun to part day sun and irrigate very little if at all once established - truly a drought tolerant plant! Cold hardy to 0 °F or slightly below and useful in USDA Zones 5b to 10. Tolerates seaside conditions and is resistant to animal predation. This plant does particularly well in coastal California garden with little or no supplemental water - in situations such as this a flowing carpet effect of foliage, under 1 foot tall, can develop. A great plant for a formal edging or allowed to flow for an informal look.

Santolina chamaecyparissus is native to dry banks and rocky slopes in the western and central Mediterranean region from Portugal to Yugoslavia. The name for the Genus comes from the Latin phrase 'sanctum linum' which means "holy flax", a name applied to one of the green species of Santolina for its medicinal qualities and the specific epithet given to this plant by Linnaeus in 1753 comes from the Greek word 'chamae' which means "dwarf", "low-growing" or "growing on the ground" and 'kyparissos', a word for "cypress" which combine to mean a "dwarf or ground cypress". We have grown this great plant since our nursery first opened in 1979 and also grow Green Santolina, Santolina rosmarinifolia and Santolina neapolitana 'Lemon Queen'. 

The information about Santolina chamaecyparissus that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.