Potentilla fruticosa Marian Red Robin - Shrubby Cinquefoil

Potentilla fruticosa 'Marian Red Robin’ is a variety of shrubby potentilla with a bushy, spreading, dense and compact habit, forming a beautiful dome with abundant flowers from June until the end of summer. The deciduous foliage is an ash-blue green colour and highlights the abundant small and cup -shaped, deep vermillion red flowers. In full sun, the flowers become more orange, then yellow. This plant, both discreet and spicy, will bring a very cheerful touch to flower beds, rock gardens, and balconies during a very long summer period! A charming flowering shrub, ideal for beginner gardeners!

Potentilla fruticosa are native to the northern hemisphere and belong to the Rosaceae family. Potentilla fruticosa is a shrub that has produced, with the help of breeders, a number of varieties, each more charming than the others. 'Marian Red Robin’ is a new English variety, and has been awarded the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit. It is an improvement of the variety 'Red Ace', thanks to its more abundant and intensely red flowers. Wider than tall, this shrub measures approximately 75 cm (30in) in height and 90 cm (35in) in spread when mature. It forms a low and compact bush, with numerous branches. Its deciduous foliage consists of 3 cm (1in) long, pinnate leaves with narrow leaflets, which are bluish-green in colour turning yellow in autumn. This elegantly cut foliage is covered with white hairs, giving it a silky and silvery appearance. Its delicate flowers, resembling those of single-flowered roses, are cup-shaped, 2-3 cm (1in) in diameter, with deep vermillion red petals and orangish reverse surrounding golden stamens. A colour that truly reveals its brightness and intensity in partial shade. The abundant flowering starts in May-June and lasts until the first frost, if the autumn is mild. It should be noted that the flowering is more intense at the beginning of summer and loses some of its vigour during the season.

Easy-to-grow plants, generously flowering and beautifully coloured, potentillas are ideal for brightening up the garden or balcony. With their wild rose-like appearance and their very modest requirements, they can be used in multiple ways: in flower beds, rock gardens, borders, low hedges, containers, etc.

By placing them at the front of your flower beds, they will be perfect for quickly obtaining brightly coloured flower beds, worthy of impressionist paintings. They blend beautifully with the blue flowers of perennial flax and wild chicory and will have a striking effect in the company of dahlias, Iris germanica, yarrows, or rudbeckias, for example. They will ideally associate with Mediterranean plants, such as lavender, rosemary, or rockroses, for a warm and fragrant atmosphere. To create a contemporary scene, they can be paired with plants with a more slender or tousled habit (Phormiums, Grasses, Euphorbias, Crocosmias). On a slope or rockery, where they will be ideally placed if your garden soil is heavy or clay, they can also be associated with dwarf or creeping Conifers, creeping Ceanothus or even groundcover and landscape roses.