Dorycnium hirsutum

Dorycnium hirsutum, also known as hairy dorycnium, is a spreading evergreen undershrub native to the Mediterranean region. It has dense and branching vegetation and beautiful silvery grey foliage. In late spring or summer, it is covered with numerous small white flowers with silky petals, creating a delicate mass over the foliage. This plant is perfect for colonizing slopes and wilder areas of the garden, as well as for containers, in well-drained soil and in full sun.

Belonging to the fabaceae family and native to the Mediterranean scrublands, Dorycnium hirsutum forms a small bush of about 50 cm (19.7 in) in all directions, with dense and spreading vegetation. It has small persistent leaves composed of 3 leaflets and 2 silvery-grey stipules covered with small silky hairs, making it attractive all year round. Between June and July, depending on the climate, it is covered with small white-pink and silvery flowers, harmoniously matching its foliage. They emerge from the axils of the leaves, grouped in clusters of 5 to 9. It is Nectar-rich and has a typical flowering pattern for the pea family, with an upright banner, fused wings and a shorter keel ending in a red tip. The flowers are followed by ovoid, shiny purple pods, arranged in a star shape, containing round seeds that are projected when ripe. The open pods have a cockscomb shape. Hairy dorycnium does not live very long, especially in moist soil, but it easily self-seeds in dry and light soil.

This lovely plant, hardy down to -12°C (10.4 °F), thrives on limestone, poor and well-drained soils, and tolerates sea spray. Both wild and delicate, it enhances more spectacular perennials such as salvias, penstemons, or sun roses on a sunny slope or in a rock garden. In a dry garden, it is a pioneering plant, ideal for quickly filling a large slope or a bed alongside rockroses and lavenders. Dorycnium also adapts very well to container gardening, if you make sure to let the substrate dry between waterings.