Description

Potentilla tonguei description

Apricot-yellow flowers with crimson eye, in late spring and throughout the summer.

Trim back hard after flowering to create fresh new leaves.

Foliage goes to bronze in the autumn.

A pollinator friendly plant including bees.

How easy is it to grow:
This has won the RHS Award of Garden Merit [1]. To win this impressive accolade the plants must have outstanding excellence for decorating a garden, be robust, not require highly specialist growing conditions or care and not be particularly susceptible to any pest or disease.

Good for the front of a border, hanging over a wall, in containers, an alpine bed, rock garden or patio and is easy provided there are no Vine Weevil in your garden (see ‘Care and maintenance’ below).

Buy alpine plants with confidence, we like to tell you plain and simply.

Common name: Staghorn Cinquefoil or Tongue Cinquefoil.

The best position in the garden:

Prefers sun.

Is it useful as a ground cover plant?

Yes, it will fill a largish gap at the front of a flower border.

What type of soil:

Any reasonable soil, also tolerates acidic soil.

How much moisture:

Normal.

Hardiness and, or, lifespan:

Hardy.

Care and maintenance:

When newly planted always keep it watered until the roots have grown down and it is able to find its own moisture.
It is susceptible to Vine Weevil which lay their eggs by the plant and these develop into white, banana shaped grubs that chomp the roots. Biological control is pretty good at controlling it.

Size of plant:

Height 15 cm.
Spread 50 cm.

Planting density – to calculate how many plants are required in a planting scheme:

Allow 4 plants per square metre.

Reference:
[1] Royal Horticultural Society – opens in a separate window.