If you have been reading my posts for the past few weeks you will know that I am shining the spotlight on easy and reliable shrubs. Some have been shrubs that you may not have heard of but I am sure that you are all familiar with shrubby potentillas. They are a regular choice of landscapers, planted around supermarket car parks, but if you grow them in your garden you can enjoy them without the addition of beer cans and crisp packets.
Do not let familiarity put you off considering these hardy, deciduous shrubs for your garden because there are few other shrubs that are so easy to grow and flower for so long. They have small, ‘ferny’ leaves in shades of green or grey/green and small, rose-like blooms in shades of yellow, white, orange, scarlet, pink and ‘almost’ red. Although they are not scented, the flowers are visited by bees and are usually produced from late May to September.
Without wishing to be confusing, we used to call these Potentilla fruticosa (which just means ‘shrubby’) but names get changed and there is even a chance they should be called dasiphora now but we will stick with names we all know! They are potentillas and although their common name is ‘shrubby cinquefoil’, shrubby potentilla or just potentilla will do (there are herbaceous potentillas).
You can grow them in sun or part shade and they survive in cold, exposed sites and dry soils. Even so, they have done well in my rather heavy soil and I have been adding lots because they are just easy and reliable. They are also easy to prune. Because they flower on all the new growth throughout summer you can cut them back in spring. It will cause the plants to bloom slightly later than unpruned plants but they can get dense and messy after a few years so prune them back every two or three years for best results.
I have to admit that potentillas are not beautiful in winter. But the four or five months of bloom in summer more than makes up for that. The most vigorous reach 1m high and wide but most are only 75cm high when mature and lots of the more modern kinds are only about 60cm high.
Yellow and white are the typical colours, from pale primrose to bright gold. Of mine, ‘Abbotswood’ is the first to bloom, often starting in April and although the flowers are rather small, even for a potentilla, there are lots of them all summer.
Recent breeding has produced semi-double flowers. I am not sure if they are better than the singles or not but they are definitely pretty and the best I have, ‘Citrus Tart’, earns its place for the bright colour.
It was the 1970s when the first red potentilla was introduced and it was hugely popular. There are now better reds, that are more vigorous and fade less in full sun, but unless you ‘must have’ a red flower, there are lots of tangerine flowers. I have the new ‘Mango Tango’ and it is a good thing, neat and always with a smattering of blooms from early to late summer.
Pink Potentillas are also relatively new. Most are pale pink and very pretty.
The darkest that I grow is called ‘Bellisima’ and it really is beautiful.
You can plant potentillas now, though they don’t look very exciting at the moment. But they will establish best if planted now rather than in summer. Once established they need little attention and are very drought-resistant. I have never noticed pests on them and they are unaffected by slugs and snails – always a plus!
Always keep newly planted shrubs well watered in dry spells in the first year. Once established you should not need to water in summer. All your potentillas will need is a trim every few years and a sprinkle of rose fertiliser in April as growth starts. And you will have flowers all summer as a reward.
It does require a bit of a leap of faith to buy a potentilla at this time of year – they are just bare twigs. But now is a good time to plant and you can be sure of blooms all through this summer.