Santolina Flower Seeds are part of a small genus of flowering, perennial, drought-tolerant evergreen shrubs originally native to the Mediterranean, but one that is becoming naturalized in the wild in California and its border states, where you may see its signature silvery-looking, somewhat fuzzy leaves and stems topped by golden yellow ball-shaped flower heads growing along roadways and in meadows.
Santolina, pronounced san-toe-LYE-nuh, is also commonly called Lavender Cotton, which is a branching shrub with wooly, felted looking stems and leaves. Bearing flower heads comprised of many florets, Lavender Cotton is in the same family as thistle, zinnia, lettuces and ragweed, though it certainly doesn’t look like a weed. Incredibly aromatic, the scent being very much like lavender, Santolina is most often utilized as a hedge or as a border plant, its neat and compact growth habit making it extremely versatile in the landscape where it is planted for use as a practical herb or purely for decoration. The flowers can be dried and used in dried arrangements or potpourris and the branches are known to repel some common household insects, such as moths. Many people scatter the leaves and stems throughout the house, in drawers, under rugs and in the library, normally in a porous cloth bag or sachet. One note: you should not harvest Lavender Cotton in the late fall or winter when the temperatures have a possibility of dropping below 5°F; the exposed cut branches can be damaged. The leaves can be harvested just about any time, but the flowers should be harvested in late summer. They can be kept indefinitely by drying thoroughly and then storing in an airtight container. As with most blooming plants, good nutrition will result in the best performance, especially for those plants grown in containers where plants will more quickly use up the available nutrients. We recommend Jungle Flora or Espoma Flower-tone®, both of which are approved for organic gardening and are safe for your family, pets, livestock and water habitats, as well as being specially formulated for blooming plants.
Each order of our fresh Santolina seeds is filled by hand, put into a resealable plastic bag and then placed into a labeled seed packet. It is our goal to provide our customers the best in freshness and quality.
