Plant of the Week!

This week's plant is a lovely shrub, the Shrubby Cinquefoil or Potentilla, (Potentilla fruticosa). I have this shrub surrounding my mailbox and its blooming now with lovely yellow blooms.

The great feature of the potentilla is its adaptability. It prefers a full sun location with moist, well-drained soils best, but this species tolerates both wet and dry sites and is very tolerant of alkaline soils, as well as part shade. Overall, no serious pest or disease problems as well.

This small shrub reaches about 2-4 feet in height and spread, blooming from early summer into fall. My particular potentilla is a yellow flowering cultivar, but white, pink, or red-orange flowered varieties are also available. 'Goldfinger' is the yellow flowered variety pictured above.

Attached photos were taken of specimens at the Nicholas Conservatory in Rockford, IL.

Learn more here: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/hortanswers/plantdetail.cfm?PlantID=361&PlantTypeID=8