Potentilla fruticosa Glamour Girl - Shrubby Cinquefoil

Potentilla fruticosa 'Glamour Girl' is a recent variety of shrubby potentilla with unusual and abundant flowering: its flowers are bicoloured, composed of salmon-coloured petals surrounded by a pink border. They bloom throughout the summer, on a shrub with a compact and nicely rounded habit, which has its place at the front of flower beds or in a pot on the patio. Easy to grow, hardy and requiring little maintenance, this elegant shrub is one of the most rewarding plants, and invincible in well-drained soil. 

Potentilla fruticosa is a woody shrub belonging to the Rosaceae family. The Glamour Girl variety was created in Poland and registered in 2013. It is therefore a particularly hardy deciduous shrub. 'Glamour Girl' has a slightly spreading, compact and rounded habit. At maturity, the plant will measure  an average of 60cm (24in) in all directions. Its slender branches, brown in colour, peel with age and bear deciduous foliage, which falls off in winter. The small size of the leaves, divided into narrow leaflets, gives a beautiful lightness to the silhouette of this small bush. A slight white hairiness on the undersides of the leaves gives them a silky and slightly silver appearance. Its delicate flowers are shaped like 3 cm (1in) diameter cups, with five pink and salmon-orange petals surrounding a heart of golden stamens. Under the effect of the sun, the colour fades, creating a delightful ombre effect on the shrub. The abundant flowers, starting in June and lasting until late September, are generally more intense at the beginning of summer.  They then lose some of their vigour during the season, depending on the moisture of the soil. The flowers of this variety fade subtly, without detracting from the elegance of the plant: there is no need to remove them.

In full sun, the potentillas will produce flowers with more vibrant colours, in partial shade the colour will be slightly less intense. Potentillas are carefree plants, generously floriferous and beautifully coloured, and are ideal for brightening up the garden or balcony. Like miniature Scottish roses, these low easy-going plants can be used in multiple ways and planted anywhere: in flower beds, rockeries, borders, low hedges, pots, etc. under most climates and in any well-drained soil. Although they are water-efficient, potentillas planted in the ground cannot survive more than 3 months without water in summer.

They will look stunning alongside Dahlias, Caryopteris, shrubby wormwoods, Gaura, Perovskia, perennial flax, wild chicory. They will go well with Mediterranean plants (Lavender, Rosemary, Cistus, Fennel, Helichrysum, Teucrium), for a warm and fragrant atmosphere. To create a very contemporary scene, they can be combined with plants with a more slender or tousled habit (Phormiums, small grasses, Euphorbias). On a slope or rockery, where they will be ideally placed if your garden soil is heavy and clay, they blend in with dwarf or creeping Conifers, creeping Ceanothus or ground cover and landscape Roses.