Potentilla fruticosa Lovely Pink - Shrubby Cinquefoil

Potentilla fruticosa Lovely Pink is a recent variety of shrub Potentilla that has its place in a tender and romantic garden. With a beautiful vigour and a nicely rounded habit, this bush offers a very long flowering period, adorning its dark green foliage with small flowers in shades of pink, reminiscent of the naivety of wild roses. Easy to grow, hardy, requiring little maintenance, this deciduous shrub fits everywhere, in flower beds but also in large pots on the terrace. It is a highly rewarding plant, and almost foolproof in well-drained soil.

Potentilla fruticosa is a woody shrub belonging to the rose family. The Lovely Pink variety was recently obtained at the University of Manitoba, in western Canada. Therefore, it is a particularly hardy deciduous shrub. Lovely Pink has a bushy, regular, and rounded habit and dense vegetation. When mature, the plant will measure about 90cm (35.4in) in all directions. Its slender and branched branches, brown in color, peel with age and bear deciduous foliage. The small size of the leaves, cut into narrow leaflets, gives a beautiful lightness to the dark green silhouette. A slight white hairiness on the underside of the leaves gives a silky and slightly silvery appearance. Its delicate flowers are cup-shaped, 3cm (1.2in) in diameter, with five pink petals and golden stamens. Under the effect of the sun, the colour fades, creating a range of pink shades on the shrub. The abundant flowering, starting in May and lasting until the arrival of autumn, is generally more intense in early summer and loses some of its vigor during the season, depending on the freshness of the soil.

In the sun, Potentillas will deliver flowers with brighter colours, while in partial shade, the colour will be slightly less vivid. Carefree plants, generously floriferous, and beautifully coloured, Potentillas are ideal for brightening up the garden or balcony, effortlessly and sustainably. 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... Under most climates and in any well-drained soil.

They will look beautiful when planted alongside Dahlias, Iris germanica, Achilleas, Gaura, Perovskia, perennial flax, wild chicory. They will ideally associate with Mediterranean plants (Lavender, Rosemary, Cistus, Fennel, Helichrysum, Teucrium) for a warm and fragrant atmosphere. To create a very graphic scene, they can be combined with plants with a more slender or tousled habit (Phormiums, Grasses, Euphorbias). On a slope or a rockery, where they will be ideally placed if your garden soil is heavy and clayey, they mix with dwarf or creeping Conifers, creeping Ceanothus, or ground cover and landscape Roses.