Convolvulus cneorum
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Convolvulus cneorum• Click here to visit our Main Plant List page for current availability of this plant
• common name: silverbush
• flowering season: all summer long
• height: 24 to 30 inches and wider
• Light requirements: sun
• Soil requirements: undemanding; grows well in poor, undernourished soil
• Water requirments: very drought tolerant after it is past its infancy
• Growth habit: a woody shrub of low stature
• How to propagate: tip cuttings in early summer
• Leaf type: narrow oval leaves of green covered in thin fine hairs giving each leaf a silvery appearance
This low bush, with gray leaves and the one-inch pearly white flowers with pale pink stripes on the backs is too-little-seen. It is evergreen and the leaves are downy, so the plant is drought resistant. And also long flowering, throughout summer. With a height of eighteen to twenty-four inches and slightly greater width, it is a native of Mediterranean limestone hills, and enjoys a hot sunny position in a rock garden, where fertility is fairly low and drainage is quick. Give it a once-a-year shearing as it begins to grow in spring to give it a good shape and keep it from becoming leggy. It is winter hardy in USDA Zones 8 - 11, or to Zone 7 with protection, although the top of the plant may be burned in severe winters. It is little seen though well worthy of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM) given it by the Royal Horticultural Society. In Zones colder than 7 or 8, it would make a superlative container plant, with its beautiful leaves and flowers, its long season and by reason that it likes being pot-bound better than many other plants.