Cistus is a Mediterranean plant also known as a Rock Rose, due to it's growth in rocky hillsides and its resemblance to a single rose. It is another of those species that isn't quite hardy here, but that I had to have to give me some of the pleasure of home (I suppose I should be making sourdough bread as well). I'm told that at the Albuquerque Botanic Garden, most Cistus do just fine, but in my yard, which is higher in elevation, the plants freeze. They freeze, as in stone cold dead. I've tried nearly a dozen varieties of Cistus, most of which succumbed to winter cold.
This was one of a number that I bought from Digging Dog Nursery, and was supposed to be a Cistus x aguilarii 'Maculatus', but clearly it is not, for it lacks the "maculatus" or red spot at the base of each petal. Nevertheless, it is a survivor, and is now a five-foot shrub sporting numerous flowers that last just a day, then drop with the sun. Although the flowers are scentless, the leaves are delightfully scented: a resinous, balmy, and somehow euphorically delightful smell that was once collected for perfume. On warm days, it scents my courtyard.
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