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Cistus x skanbergii (Dwarf Pink Rockrose) - A low dense evergreen shrub to 2 to 3+ feet tall by 4-6 feet wide with soft, gray-green foliage. In spring and early summer appear the 1-inch-wide pale pink blooms with yellow stamens in the center. The flowers are smaller than most rockroses but have an attractive metallic sheen and are produced so profusely that they cover the plant.
Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to not at all. It is hardy to about 20 degrees F and tolerates seaside conditions. It is drought tolerant, resistant to deer predation and is a low fuel volume plant for areas prone to wildfire. Shear back in late summer for a fall rebloom.
Cistus x skanbergii was originally described as a species by Italian botanist Michele Lojacono Pojero (1853-1919) who named it for his friend the Swedish botanist Alexander Skånberg but it is now considered to be a natural hybrid between Cistus monspeliensis and Cistus parviflorus that originates where the two species overlapped on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa in Italy. Though now considered extinct at its original collection site and very rare elsewhere in the wild, it has been successfully cultivated and introduced worldwide as an ornamental plant. The name Cistus is from the Greek word 'kistos' which was the name originally used to describe the plant in ancient Greece. . We have grown and sold this attractive and useful plant since 1991.
This information about Cistus x skanbergii displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate 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 that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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