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Convolvulus Cneorum - The Silvery Mediterranean Gem
Overview
Convolvulus Cneorum, commonly known as Silky Bindweed or Bush Morning Glory, is an exquisite evergreen shrub that brings Mediterranean elegance to British gardens. This compact, silver-leaved beauty produces masses of pristine white trumpet flowers with sunny yellow centres from late spring through summer. Unlike its vigorous climbing relatives, this well-behaved shrub forms neat, rounded mounds that never become invasive, making it perfect for borders, rockeries, and coastal gardens. Its silky, silver foliage provides year-round interest, whilst the succession of flowers creates a long-lasting display.
Key Features
Stunning Silver Foliage: Dense, narrow leaves covered in silky silver hairs that shimmer in sunlight and provide beautiful year-round colour.
Pristine White Flowers: Pure white, funnel-shaped blooms with bright yellow centres appear continuously from May through September.
Compact Growth: Forms neat, rounded mounds typically 60cm high and 90cm wide, perfect for smaller gardens.
Evergreen Nature: Retains its attractive silvery foliage throughout winter, providing constant structure and colour.
Drought Tolerance: Exceptional resistance to dry conditions once established, ideal for water-wise gardening.
Non-Invasive: Unlike common bindweed, this species is completely well-behaved and never spreads aggressively.
Growing Conditions
Soil Requirements: Thrives in well-draining soil and particularly loves sandy, gravelly, or chalky conditions. Essential that drainage is excellent - will not tolerate waterlogged soil.
Light Needs: Requires full sun for best growth, flowering, and foliage colour. Will struggle in shady positions.
Climate Suitability: Hardy in most of the UK, though may need protection from harsh winds and severe frost in colder regions.
Drainage: Cannot be overstated - excellent drainage is absolutely critical for success with this plant.
Coastal Tolerance: Exceptionally tolerant of salt spray and coastal conditions.
Size and Growth
Mature Height: Typically reaches 50-60cm in height, occasionally up to 80cm in ideal conditions.
Spread: Forms rounded mounds approximately 80-100cm wide at maturity.
Growth Rate: Moderate growth rate, establishing well within 2-3 years of planting.
Form: Develops a naturally neat, dome-shaped habit that rarely requires pruning to maintain its shape.
Planting and Care
Best Planting Time: Plant in late spring after the risk of hard frost has passed, allowing establishment before winter.
Site Preparation: Improve heavy soils with grit or sharp sand to enhance drainage. Consider raised beds or containers in clay soil areas.
Watering: Water sparingly during establishment, then rarely once established. Overwatering is more harmful than drought.
Mulching: Use gravel or grit mulch rather than organic matter, which can retain too much moisture around the base.
Winter Protection: In colder areas, protect with fleece during severe weather or grow in containers that can be moved to shelter.
Seasonal Interest
Spring: Fresh silver-grey foliage emerges, followed by the first flush of white flowers in late spring.
Summer: Peak flowering period with continuous succession of white trumpets creating a spectacular display against silver foliage.
Autumn: Flowering continues well into autumn, often until the first frosts arrive.
Winter: Evergreen foliage provides valuable winter interest, with leaves taking on slightly more grey tones in cold weather.
Ideal Uses
Mediterranean Gardens: Perfect for creating authentic Mediterranean-style plantings with herbs and other drought-tolerant plants.
Rock Gardens: Excellent choice for rockeries and alpine gardens where drainage is naturally good.
Coastal Planting: Outstanding for seaside gardens, tolerating salt spray and sandy soils exceptionally well.
Container Growing: Ideal for pots and planters, especially terracotta containers that complement the Mediterranean theme.
Gravel Gardens: Perfect for gravel gardens and drought-tolerant planting schemes.
Border Edging: Creates attractive low borders or edging with its neat, rounded habit.
Wildlife Value
The white flowers are attractive to bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects throughout the long flowering season. The nectar-rich blooms provide valuable food sources during the summer months, whilst the dense foliage offers shelter for beneficial insects.
Companion Plants
Convolvulus Cneorum pairs beautifully with other Mediterranean plants such as lavender, rosemary, santolina, and cistus. The silver foliage complements purple flowers particularly well - try planting with catmint, salvia, or perovskia. Ornamental grasses like stipa and festuca provide textural contrast, whilst other silver-leaved plants create harmonious themed plantings.
Container Growing
This plant excels in containers, making it perfect for patios, terraces, and balconies. Use terracotta or stone pots with excellent drainage holes, and add plenty of grit to the compost. Container plants will need protection from excessive winter wet and severe frost. Water sparingly throughout the year.
Maintenance Requirements
Convolvulus Cneorum is remarkably low-maintenance once established in suitable conditions. Deadheading spent flowers encourages continued blooming, though this isn't essential. Light pruning after flowering can help maintain shape, but heavy pruning should be avoided as the plant may not recover well.
Important Considerations
Drainage: Cannot be overstated - poor drainage will kill this plant quickly, especially in winter.
Cold Sensitivity: May not survive harsh winters in exposed positions or cold areas without protection.
Soil Type: Struggles in heavy clay soils unless drainage is significantly improved.
Watering: More plants are lost to overwatering than underwatering - err on the side of dryness.
Seasonal Care Calendar
Spring: Plant new specimens after frost risk passes. Light pruning if needed.
Summer: Deadhead regularly for continuous flowering. Water container plants sparingly.
Autumn: Reduce watering as growth slows. Continue deadheading until first frost.
Winter: Protect from excess wet and severe frost. Stop watering container plants almost entirely.
Summary
Convolvulus Cneorum is a jewel of a plant for gardeners who can provide the well-draining conditions it craves. Its combination of beautiful silver foliage and pristine white flowers creates a sophisticated display that epitomises Mediterranean garden style. While it requires specific growing conditions, success brings rewards of a trouble-free, drought-tolerant shrub that provides months of interest with minimal intervention. Perfect for modern water-wise gardens and an essential plant for coastal and gravel garden enthusiasts.
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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