Re: propagating cistus
- To:
- Subject: Re: propagating cistus
- From: O* F*
- Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 10:55:17 +0200
Hi Barbara,
Glad to learn you're developping a great fondness for Cistus. What better
plant can you have in a mediterranean garden ? Beautiful flowers like
crumpled silk, nice evergreen foliage, grey felty on Cistus albidus or
Cistus parviflorus, dark green and strongly aromatic on Cistus x ledon or
Cistus ladanifer... and no need for water or fertilizer : a real treasure
for the low maintenance gardener !
Your cistus with a small light pink flower is probably either Cistus x
skanbergii (narrow leaves) or Cistus 'Grayswood Pink' (oval leaves, very
good ground cover).
I wouldn't propagate Cistus with the glass-of-water method : they are native
in sunny rocky poor dry landscapes around the Mediterranean, and hate the
excess of water. Try rather a mixture with lots of sand or volcanic pebbles.
As for the period, well it doesn't sound too good either. Cistus are much
either to propagate in october - november (northern hemisphere), with the
new shoots coming after the summer rest. Those who set seeds are easy to sow
(but if you have different species in the garden, you have to welcome
hybrids of course).
In our garden, they are all starting to bloom. Cistus x aguilari
'Immaculatus' is one of the first to open its very large pure white flowers.
The 'Maculatus' form has beautiful dark maroon blotches at the base of the
petals. Cistus x tephreus is maybe the most floriferous : the plant is
disappearing under the number of buds, the flowers will be a nice pale
pinkish mauve. And I can't wait for the first flowers of Cistus
monspeliensis f. flavescens to open, the rare yellow flowered form of Cistus
monspeliensis...
For those of you who are in South of France, our Cistus garden (more than
200 species and cultivars) will be open to the public on May 6 (in the
morning). I'll be in the garden to explain our work, from the plant hunting
trips to the hand pollination and selection of new cultivars.
Olivier
