Related to cistus the rock, or sun roses make invaluable ground cover in dry sunny situations. They quickly form low, tidy shrubs, evergreen, or ever-grey. Trim after flowering to maintain a compact shape. They thrive in our dry garden, at the front of the borders, creating spots of intense colour, pink and oranges, with others a more cooling yellow, apricot and white.
With copious nectar and pollen (apart from the doubled forms that have lower provision), the flowers of rock-roses are attractive to pollinators, especially bees. The leaves are the food plant for a number of moths and butterflies, some specialist some generalist, although these are species not perhaps to be expected in the garden context.