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  • Amateur Gardening

    Perfect potentillas

    Jul 19, 2022 4 minutes

    POTENTILLAS are a very mixed bunch, and there are hundreds of them, but many are excellent garden plants. What they have in common is a five-petal flower structure, a little like the flowers of single roses but smaller, about 1in-3in (2.5cm-7.5cm) across. Beyond that, they can be split into three main groups.

    The most widely grown are the shrubby types, varieties of Potentilla fruticosa. These make very cold-hardy, twiggy deciduous shrubs, usually of small to medium height, that carry a succession of flowers from late spring to late autumn, depending on the variety. Yellow is the most common colour for the flowers, but orange, red, pink and white flowers are also available.

    Five fingers

    The foliage is split into five fingers, giving

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