Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate infrequently to not at all. It is hardy to about 20 degrees F. A good tough drought tolerant plant for a dry garden or seaside garden and as with other Rockroses, it is resistant to deer predation.

We first saw this plant in the early 1980s where Lester Hawkins and Marshall Olbrich had cultivated it in their garden at Western Hills Nursery in Occidental California. Lester, writing in the Fall 1978 issue of Pacific Horticulture, noted that this plant was originally "received from the Strybing Arboretum labeled as Cistus 'Paladin'. It was a lovely plant, but since its large flowers were pure white and the cv. 'Paladin' has blotched flowers, we examined it more closely and determined it must be the cv. 'Blanche' in the C. (ladanifer x palhinhae) series. … The best tall rock rose we have ever grown is Cistus (ladanifer x palhinhae) 'Blanche', with pure white unblotched flowers. It will easily attain eight feet and its great white flowers, four-and-a-half inches across, are produced in abundance in the middle of May. Since the plant is infertile, it produces none of the large brown seed pods so noticeable in both of its parents."

Our original stock plant came to us in 1984 from the legendary plantsman Austin Griffiths, who in turn got his plant from Western Hills Nursery. This plant is now considered to be spotless cultivar of Cistus ladanifer. This plant is thought to be a hybrid selected by Collingwood Ingram (1880–1981), and it won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Merit in 1967. There are some that claim this plant is actually Cistus x aguilarii, a plant that is the result of backcrossing a Cistus ladanifer and Cistus populifolius hybrid back with Cistus ladanifer and that the true 'Blanche' is a smaller and more compact plant but for now we will stick by our source's name on this wonderful plant and continue to call it 'Blanche', the name we received it as in 1984. The name Cistus is from the Greek word 'kistos' which was the name originally used to describe the plant in ancient Greece. The specific epithet 'ladanifer' given to this plant by Linnaeus literally means "bearing of ladanum" - for more information about the reason for this name see our listing of Cistus ladanifer. We have grown and sold this attractive and useful plant since 1992. 

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