Skanberg's
Rockrose
"How sweet the breath
beneath the hill
Of Sharon's dewy rose!"
-Reginald Heber
1783-1826
1783-1826
Cistus x skanbergii is a naturally occuring hybrid of C. parviflorus x C. monspeliensis, & is native to Greece & Sicily.
Upright, mounding, & spreading in habit, it is usually about three feet high & four wide. If unrestrained it can reach grow to four feet of height & six feet width. Early spring or post-bloom sheering helps keep it a bit restrained in size.
Skanberg's Rockrose produces huge numbers of one-inch pale pink flowers starting no later than May (ours is fully aflower mid-April, ahead of most of the rockroses), & lasting through July. It reblooms in autumn after a summer's end sheering.
Slender sage-green foliage is evergreen through winter, with a finer softer texture than the majority of rockroses. As a large groundcover it is very densely leafed & easily keeps weeds from establishing.
If temperatures fall below 20 degrees F., it will have considerable winter damage & need to be hard-pruned just before spring. In mild climates it needs sheering only to control its spread.
It's a good shrub for erosion control in harshly sunned dry locations. Maritime conditions do not harm it, & it bares up to winds & heat very well.
The only thing it cannot abide are extended freezing or too much water. To do well in the rainy Northwest it needs the absolute best drainage that can be provided.