The books tell us we shouldn't expect survivors in outdoors climates that dip lower than 17-18 degrees Fahrenheit. And yet, the temptations. All that, plus the texture is of the finest crepe de chine. During their season, late spring to summer, the flowers last but a day. But, in all their shapes, Cistuses bear enough of them to last several weeks.
Plants are evergreen, their shapes varying, horizontal and spreading to upright.
If it hadn't been for that evergreenery, we might have given up around Year Nine. Learning that plants, like human offspring, frequently take their own sweet time to come into productive maturity, helped stay our clippers and shovels. So much pointed to eventuality. Then, soon into May, the Cistus showed new growth, but of a softer, more flexible kind we didn't remember from before. And, what do you know, buds appeared on this growth.