Plant Library

Other Names:  Sunrose, Rock Rose

Description:

Clusters of beautiful white flowers cover the fuzzy-textured gray-green foliage on this compact prostrate variety; a great groundcover with a low spreading habit; tolerant of poor, dry soils, hot garden locations and salt spray

Ornamental Features

Prostrate Sageleaf Rockrose is smothered in stunning white cup-shaped flowers with gold eyes at the ends of the branches in early summer, which emerge from distinctive shell pink flower buds. It has attractive grayish green evergreen foliage. The small fuzzy pointy leaves are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Prostrate Sageleaf Rockrose is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a mounded form. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Prostrate Sageleaf Rockrose is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Prostrate Sageleaf Rockrose will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Prostrate Sageleaf Rockrose makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.