Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to very little. Cold hardy to about 18 degrees F. This is a great drought tolerant plant for stabilizing sloped areas or for other difficult areas. Its low ground-hugging nature makes it a good candidate for areas where a low fuel fire resistant plant is needed in the landscape.

Cistus salviifolius is widespread naturally through the Mediterranean Sea basin both throughout southern Europe and east to Turkey as well as in North Africa in Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. 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 "salviifolius" means foliage like a sage. This plant is sometimes erroneously listed as Cistus villosus prostratus, a name of no botanical standing. Cistus villosus and Cistus incanus are synonyms of Cistus creticus. We have grown and sold this attractive and useful plant since 1982. 

The information displayed on this page about Cistus salviifolius 'Prostratus' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.