Potentilla fruticosa Double Punch Cream - Shrubby Cinquefoil

Potentilla fruticosa Double Punch Cream is part of a series of shrubby potentillas selected for their double flowers in various colours, often unheard of. These are floriferous varieties, with a fairly compact habit, which have great impact in sunny flower beds but also in pots on a patio or balcony. 'Cream' is perhaps the most delicately coloured, with its pink flower buds that unfold into double flowers edged with pale pink and finally fading to cream-white. Like all potentillas, it is a very rewarding plant, and almost invincible in well-drained soil.

Potentilla fruticosa is a woody shrub that belongs to the Rosaceae family, just like roses. It is a deciduous shrub that is quite hardy and loses its leaves in autumn. 'Double Punch Cream' has a rounded bushy habit, rather low and wide, with a very dense growth. At maturity, the plant will measure about 50 cm (20in) in height and 90 cm (35in) in width. Its slender branches, brown in colour, peel with age and carry small, fine leaves. The small size of the narrow leaflets gives a beautiful lightness to its silhouette, which is quite dark green. Its delicate flowers are cup-shaped, about 3 cm (1in) in diameter, with ten petals that quickly change colour from pink to cream-white. The flower's centre is filled with golden stamens. The abundant flowering, starting in June, is generally more intense in early summer and then loses some of its vigour during the season, depending on the soil's moisture.

In full sun, potentillas will deliver flowers with more vibrant colours, while in partial shade, the colour will be slightly less intense. Trouble-free, generous and beautifully coloured, potentillas are ideal for brightening up the garden or balcony. With their Scottish rose-like appearance and their very modest requirements, they can be used in multiple ways and installed anywhere: in flower beds, rockeries, borders, low hedges, containers, etc. Under most climates and in any well-drained soil.

Potentilla Double Punch Cream will look stunning alongside shrubby salvias, yarrows, Gaura, Perovskia, and catmints. It pairs ideally with groundcover roses. To create a very geometric scene, it can be combined with plants with a more slender or tousled habit (Phormiums, Grasses, Euphorbias). On a slope or rockery, where it will be ideally placed if your garden soil is heavy and clay, it blends with dwarf or creeping Conifers, creeping Ceanothus, or groundcover and landscape Roses. Potentillas create absolutely stunning large borders in front of a screen of evergreen shrubs (Abelia, boxwood, holly, Mahonia, Japanese spindle tree, Escallonia), which take over in winter.