Helichrysum

A large genus (500 plus), distributed over the warm and temperate regions of the Old World. Mostly from South Africa and Australia, but the smaller shrubby types found around the Mediterranean are most suited to British gardens. Maybe not as glamorous as Cistus, but valued nonetheless for their grey, woolly foliage, which can be more enhanced during drought. They can have soft rounded shapes, linking between the lower, spreading helianthemums ands thymes, whilst providing a backdrop to vertical performers like alliums and verbascums.