Cistus, The Sun Rose.

Colour, colour, colour.  All our customers want colour and Cistus will give them just that.

The requirements are simple, very good drainage, no heavy soils and as much Sun as England can get.

'Don't be shy have your say - share your views'

Register for FREE if you have not already registered and then click HERE to create a NEWTOPIC and tell us about your some of your favorites?

Hot south facing to west facing is the preferred location.

These leafy evergreen shrubs proffer a mass of flowers form late Spring and go on to Midsummer.

Cistus ladanifer has papery white flowers with burgundy splashes towards the middle of the flower with yellow stamens.  The shrub is one of the taller varieties, capable of 6 foot or so high and three to 4 foot spread.

Cistus x pulverulenta Sunset is less hardy and definitely is better in the South, coastal regions.  These have fantastic papery purple-pink flowers on a more compact plant of may be, 2 .5  foot by 2 .5  foot.

Cistus x corbariensis is a darker green leafed variety capable of three or 4 foot by three or 4 foot.  This variety is one of a hardier ones and regularly planted in the Midlands.  The flower buds are very red towards their base and open out to smaller papery white flowers, with yellow stamens.

Cistus Ladanifer

Cistus Silver Pink, has a more silvery foliage and grows a couple of foot high and 3 foot wide and again it is one of the tougher varieties.

Cistus Peggy Sammons has a paler pink flower, smaller greyish coloured leaves and is capable of 3' x 3'.

Cistus x purpureus is a popular variety in the South with pink flowers that have dark red spots in the middle of the flower.

Cistus Graysward Pink is one of the tougher shrubs in the Cistus family and is more compact, making a couple of foot in both height and spread.

Cistus is also related to Helianthemum, also known as the Rock Rose which are festooning Rockeries, across the nation.  At some point I will do a separate article on these superb alpines.

I hope these few photographs give you an idea of considering a Cistus for sunny parts in your garden and remember if you are in heavy soils, you need to remove a couple of wheelbarrows full and replace it with a much lighter, stony soil.

Often when you see this sort of plant flowering so profusely, in its native Mediterranean environment, then consider what it's growing in and I guarantee you the soil will be very free draining and low in nutrient.  It is best to emulate this condition in England as we tend to have much richer ground than southern France and beyond.

There are many varieties not mentioned here and this is only a taster of the sort of things you can put in to give you colour, colour, colour.