A tough, silvery shrub that bursts into pink-purple bloom after summer rains and humid spells, which is why it is also called the barometer bush. It handles full sun, heat and very little water. Left to grow naturally, it is one of the easiest shrubs in the Valley.
Living with it in the Phoenix Valley
Watering
Follow the shrub schedule in our Landscape Care guide while it establishes. After that, keep it lean: it needs little supplemental water outside long dry stretches. Too much water causes rank growth, fewer flowers and root rot.
Pruning
It blooms best and holds its natural shape when left alone. Choose a variety that fits the space. If it needs shaping, thin selectively in spring rather than shearing into balls, which removes flowering wood and leaves bare interiors.
Bloom timing
Flowering follows humidity, not the calendar. Expect several flushes from the start of monsoon season into fall.
Pests
Generally trouble-free in well-drained soil.
How our designers use it
Low-water screening
Planted in groups, it makes an informal, silvery screen along walls and property lines.
Hot, reflected sites
It thrives along driveways, west walls and street edges where softer shrubs burn.
Silver contrast
Its gray foliage sets off agaves, red yucca and green-trunked palo verdes.
Good to know
Around the pool
Light, fine leaf and flower drop after bloom flushes. Bees visit while it flowers, so we keep it a few feet back from pool edges.
