POTENTILLA. Cinquefoil. Widely distributed, Northern Hemisphere. Perennials and shrubs of the rose family, with deeply divided leaves and ½" to 2" blossoms resembling little roses. The following are mostly winter-deciduous, retaining some foliage in mild winters. Sun, most soils, moderate watering. The following are hardy to below 0^oF.

argentea var. calabra (P. calabra). A tidy hummock of crowded shoots, with several-parted grey green leaves lying close to the ground. Small yellow flowers are clustered above the foliage on 6-10" stems in late spring and early summer.

atrosanguinea. One of the showiest of the potentillas, even when not in bloom. Both the large 3-parted leaves and the stems are covered with silky hairs, giving them a silver cast. Slender 2½' blooming stems display 1" scarlet flowers in spring.

fruticosa. Compact shrubs, about 2’ tall in the following selections and thickly clad with small dark green, narrowly divided leaves. They display a profusion of 1½" blossoms during the summer months. Those of ‘Abbottswood’ are pure white with yellow centers; ‘Klondike’ is a compact selection with golden yellow blossoms. ‘Hollandia Gold’ is more vigorous and upright, with unusually large blossoms of the same golden yellow. For those who have tired of the traditional choice of yellow or white flowers, there are some interesting recent developments. ‘Apricot Whisper’ is one of these, with soft apricot flower color overall and a pink blush in cooler weather.

glandulosa ssp. ashlandica. This is the identity provided by botanist friends for a perennial whose seeds I collected in the Yolla Bolly Mountains of northern California. It forms attractive broad colonies, with rosettes of several-parted, toothed leaves up to 8" long. It flowers in late spring and much of the summer, carrying 1’ sprays of soft yellow blossoms, each a little under an inch across.

megalantha is a compact perennial with broad, 3-parted leaves lying nearly flat on the ground. The leaves are dark green above, grey and silky beneath. Bright yellow 1" flowers appear just above the foliage in summer.

recta ‘Warrensii’. Tightly clumping, with low crowns of fuzzy, narrowly parted leaves. In summer it erupts with sprays of bright yellow 3/4" blossoms, opening in lengthy succession on 1-2' stalks.