PHLOMIS x cytherea

Rustic and vigorous hybrid, shrub, perennial and evergreen, with rather slow growth and thick, regular and roundish habit, native to Greece: at its maximum development, it can grow more than 80 cm tall and expand approximately in the same measure. Branched and well lignified from the base, it has numerous erect semi-woody stems, which moving up, branching repeatedly and orienting in every direction, give the plant a compact, rather globular and orderly shape. The leaves, opposite, thick and tomentose, ovate-lanceolate with smooth margins and acute apex, are gray-green in color. In late spring in the apical parts of the branches of the year, circular inflorescences are formed composed of tubular flowers of lemon yellow color.

It prefers very bright and sunny exposure and prefers poor, loose soils, even sandy or stony, calcareous. It tolerates both prolonged periods of drought and the characteristic salinity of sea winds in coastal locations. It can bear minimum winter temperatures only a few degrees below zero and therefore, where the cold can be intense and long lasting, it is advisable to choose a well-protected position or guarantee it shelter in a cool and bright environment in winter. In autumn it is necessary to pay some attention to it and, with the elimination of dry flower stems and old, damaged or bulky parts, it will be advisable to slightly shorten the various branches, in order to allow a more dense growth and increase the subsequent flowering. It can give excellent results if grown on terraces and balconies in large pots and containers and paying close attention to the draining aspect of the soil used. In the open ground, interacting very well with any other essence of the Mediterranean type, it helps us in the creation of sunny and dry gardens, often with a slightly wild air; one of his original contributions could be this: an unusual and evergreen border, created by arranging various specimens in a linear sequence.