Guest author Dan Songster shared this January 2026 Plant of the Month article featuring Catalina Silverlace with its striking beauty, growth habits, and resilience.

• What: Constancea (Eriophyllum) nevinii 
• Common Name: Catalina Silverlace or the less entrancing name, Nevin’s Woolly Sunflower
• Family: Asteraceae
• Type: Small evergreen shrub or sub-shrub
  Light: Full sun unless inland where it can take a touch of shade
  Soil: Prefers well-draining soils but can take clay if not overwatered
  Water: Can go almost dry after establishment close to coast
• Common Habitat: Coastal bluffs, cliff faces; below 1,000 feet

This silvery beauty is a rare and endangered Channel Island native only found growing on Santa Catalina, Santa Barbara, and San Clemente islands, and like many Channel Islands endemics, this plant was threatened with extinction by the herbivory of the feral goats living on the islands; the goats have since been removed and the plant is recovering. It grows at a medium rate and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years in garden conditions. Its deeply dissected 6- to 8-inch-long silvery white leaves resembling fern leaves are stunning and the whole plant resembles a large Dusty Miller. 

In early summer, an inflorescence rises above the foliage with daisy composite yellow flowers later turning an appealing chocolate brown color that really stands out against the white foliage. Constance M. Vadheim of Mother Nature Backyard Blog mentions, “Like the native buckwheats, Catalina Silverlace retains its beauty long after the flowering season has ended. The flowering stalks, bracts and seeds turn a lovely dark brown that contrasts exquisitely with the white foliage. In fact, many gardeners consider fall to be the prettiest season for this shrub.”  

Theodore Payne enjoyed this plant, stating in his 1941 catalog: “Grows two to four-feet high, with several stems from near the base forming a plant often three or four feet across. Beautiful gray finely cut foliage similar to Dusty Miller of gardens but much finer. Large heads of yellow flowers on long stems well above the foliage. A very striking plant which can be grown in any garden.”

Use in the Garden 

I have seen Catalina Silverlace used as a single splash of silver when planted alone, a focal point in a smaller landscape, or mixed in with other native or mediterranean climate plants for its contrasting-colored foliage. You can imagine how it really stands out if planted with an evergreen background of Toyon, Coffeeberry, Lemonadeberry, Sugarbush or Ceanothus.  

While not everyone’s cup of tea, Constancea along with other plants such as Artemesia sp., White Sage, Chalk Dudleya, are well known among native plant gardeners for use in “moon gardens,” where the silver white foliage stands out in dusk or evening visits to the landscape.

Also, Catalina Silverlace is an elegant addition to a habitat garden. Pollinator insects are attracted by the flower’s sweet nectar and pollen. Expect to see European honey bees, native bees, flower flies, butterflies, and others visiting the flowers. Seed-eating birds enjoy the seeds.

What about using it in containers? While I have not done it myself (yet), I have talked with a couple people who recommend it. I can imagine its striking foliage emphasized by the added height provided by a container. Of course, like most plants in pots, it will need more water than if planted in the garden. 

Besides its usefulness in various garden situations, its dramatic beauty and habitat value, Catalina Silverlace is also a constant reminder of the special and rare plants native to our coastal islands.  

Conditions and Care

Coming from the offshore islands, this is an exceptional plant for coastal gardens. It has a somewhat low and mounded growth habit, often found among plants growing right on the coast which helps make it particularly suited to the wind and salt spray that dominate coastal landscapes. In landscapes like those, you should plant it in full sun. Like many coastal plants, it is not frost tolerant.

But what about those of us who live away from coastal influences? Well, that lovely silver/white foliage (being covered with wooly white hairs), can reflect heat, which helps the plant to survive hot dry summers. Just remember that the further inland you go, especially into hotter areas of Orange County, a placement in the garden where a bit of afternoon shade occurs would be a good way to keep this plant happy. A south facing slope in Brea or Yorba Linda (or even Buena Park) in full sun may not be the best placement for long life. Too much shade however, and you get a leggy plant with fewer flowers, and the potential for aphids colonizing. 

Water

Although correctly listed as drought tolerant, I think we should realize that for this plant to look its best, drought tolerant does not mean withholding all irrigation. It can certainly go without irrigation in coastal gardens once the plant is established, but during most years we would do well to extend its “rainy season” a bit with irrigation during the dry parts of early spring, especially if little rain fails. Do not assume that it will be happy baking in summer conditions without a solid winter’s worth of either rain or irrigation. Depending on where you garden and how much rain may fall, will determine how much and when you water–regularly, occasionally, or not at all. Tree of Life Nursery’s old catalog recommends watering once or twice a month. This sounds about right for most gardens.

A good thing to note is that although this plant will certainly die if stuck in heavy clay that is constantly wet, it is not as sensitive to off season watering as Manzanita, Woolly Blue Curls, or Fremontia. So, go ahead and add some occasional moisture in early mornings or evenings – even in summer months.

Pruning

After the plant’s second year of growth, I do a heavy handed deadheading sometime in early winter. But if the plant is getting very leggy, I follow the advice of others such as Randy Baldwin of San Marcos Nursery, who says that to keep this plant dense and in good form “…it is best to give it a hard pruning in late fall or winter, just prior to when new growth emerges.”

Carol Bornstein also recommends relatively heavy pruning in late fall or winter, while Constance Vadheim is less severe in pruning advice, “Plants will become leggy if not pruned back regularly in late fall or winter. For fall pruning, remove spent flowering stalks and prune back the leafy stems, leaving 2-3 sets of new leaves. This will result in a nice, mounded habit.” 

Note: A selection of this plant named ‘Canyon Silver’ is a 1995 Santa Barbara Botanic Garden introduction selected by Carol Bornstein, then the Director of Horticulture, who noted an old un-accessioned plant growing in the Manzanita section of the garden whose fine textured white foliage was brightening up a shady spot under the high canopy of an oak tree. The authors of California Native Plants for the Garden consider this cultivar more reliable in gardens than the straight species.

Additional Note: Why Constancea? Although originally named Eriophyllum nevinii, in recent times it has been determined by DNA studies that this plant is only distantly related to others in the genus Eriophyllum, and it has been given the new name Constancea nevinii as the only member of a monotypic genus named to honor Lincoln Constance a plant taxonomist and former director of the UC Berkeley Herbarium.

How nerdy are you? Here is more information on Lincoln Constance.

Also check out this blog for even more information on Constancea. Have you planted Catalina Silverlace in your garden? Write us back and share your experience.