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Products > Eriophyllum nevinii 'Canyon Silver'   Eriophyllum nevinii 'Canyon Silver' - Woolly Sunflower     [2nd Image] Habit and Cultural Information Category: Shrub Family: Asteraceae (Sunflowers) Origin: California (U.S.A.) Evergreen: Yes Flower Color: Yellow Bloomtime: Spring/Summer Synonyms: [Constancea nevinii] Height: 4-6 feet Width: 4-6 feet Exposure: Full Sun Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs Winter Hardiness: 20-25° F Eriophyllum nevinii 'Canyon Silver' (Woolly Sunflower) - A beautiful native California shrub to 4 to 6 feet tall and wide with dissected silver leaves, much like dusty miller. In early summer an inflorescence rises above the foliage with yellow star-shaped held in a tight cluster which later turns an appealing chocolate brown color that contrasts well against the silver foliage. Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate only occasionally if at all - can certainly go without irrigation in coastal gardens once the plant is established. Hardy to 25 degrees F. To keep this plant dense and in good form it is best to give a hard pruning in late fall or winter just prior to when new growth emerges. A great plant to mix in with other native or mediterranean climate plants for its contrasting colored foliage. The flowers also attract pollinator insects and later seed eating birds. The species is rare in the wild where it is found growing in coastal scrub below 100 feet on Santa Catalina, Santa Barbara and San Clemente islands in the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. The name for the genus comes from the Greek words 'erion' meaning "wool" and 'phyllon' meaning "leaf," referring to the wooly white hairs that cover the plant. The specific epithet honors Reverand Joseph Cook Nevin (1835-1913) a Los Angeles linguist and botanist who was among the first persons to collected plants on Catalina Island. Other common names include Island Dusty Miller, Canyon Silver Lace, Catalina Silverlace and Nevin's Wooly Sunflower. This named selection is a 1995 Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Introduction that was selected by Carol Bornstein, then the Director of Horticulture, who noted an old un-accessioned plant growing in the Manzanita section of the garden whose fine textured white foliage was brightening up a shady spot under the high canopy of an oak tree. Recently it has been determined by DNA studies that this plant is only distantly related to others in the genus Eriophyllum and so it has been given the new name Constancea nevinii as the only member of a monotypic genus named after Lincoln Constance a plant taxonomist and former director of the UC Berkeley Herbarium but we continue to list it under its former name until this new name gains wider recognition. More information on this plant can be found on the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden's Plant Introduction Page.  The information on this page is based on research conducted about this plant in our library and from reliable online sources. We also take into consideration observations of this plant in our nursery crops, as well as of plants growing in the nursery's garden and those in other gardens we visit. We also will incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome getting feedback from anyone who may have additional information, particularly if it includes cultural information that would aid others in growing Eriophyllum nevinii 'Canyon Silver'.     [MORE INFO]