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Santolina rosmarinifolia 'Primrose Gem'
Green santolina is a small, rounded evergreen shrub from the Mediterranean. Its late spring and summer lemon button-like flowers provide seasonal interest on this compact alternative to a plain box hedge. The vivid-green, fine rosemary-like foliage, perfect for clipping, is wonderfully fragrant and useful to deter moths in drawers, as pain relief for insect bites, as a perfumed oil extract or dried in pot pourri sachets. Plant along sunny pathways or edges where its aroma and bright nodding flowers can be savoured.
How to grow
Requires full sun and free-draining soil to avoid root and crown rot. Drought and heat tolerant, thriving in poor soils and on rocky slopes. Trim regularly in summer to prevent plants becoming leggy and opening up from the centre. Prune back hard after flowering in autumn to maintain a compact habit.