Dasiphora × glabrata
Shrubby Cinquefoil
Dasiphora fruticosa
(L.) Rydb. Species
- Botanical name
- Dasiphora fruticosa
- Also known as
- Buckbrush, Bush Cinquefoil, Golden Hardhack, Shrubby Cinquefoil, Widdy
- Family
- Rosaceae
- Genus
- Dasiphora
- Flowering period
- June to September
- Height
- 60–120 cm
- Spread
- 100–150 cm
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy (RHS H7)
- Reference
- World Flora Online
How to grow Shrubby Cinquefoil
Full sun; pale-flowered forms hold colour better with afternoon shade
Low once established
Well-drained; tolerates poor soil
Acid to alkaline
Planting
An extremely tough small shrub for exposed, cold or windy gardens where more refined things fail. Good in a low informal hedge or at the front of a sunny border.
Pruning
Cut back by about a third in early spring, and take out some of the oldest wood at the base each year. Neglected plants become woody and bare at the centre with flowers only on the outside.
Propagation
Semi-ripe cuttings in summer root easily.
Pests and diseases
Very few problems. It is one of the more disease-free garden shrubs.
Value to wildlife
The long flowering season makes it useful to bees and hoverflies from midsummer well into autumn.
Notes
Still widely sold as Potentilla fruticosa. It flowers on the current season's growth, so spring pruning does not cost you the display.
This guidance was researched and written by GardenDecoded — see our editorial policy for how guides are checked and reviewed.
Other names for this plant
These names have all been used for Dasiphora fruticosa but are no longer the accepted name. You may still meet them on old labels, in books, or in nursery catalogues.
Comocarpa fruticosa
Fragaria fruticosa
Pentaphylloides elata
Pentaphylloides fruticosa
Pentaphylloides fruticosa subsp. floribunda
Potentilla fruticosa
Potentilla fruticosa unranked typica
Potentilla prostrata
Tormentilla fruticosa
Others in Dasiphora
GardenDecoded is an educational gardening reference. Botanical data comes from World Flora Online and GBIF; growing guidance is our own. Always check a plant's toxicity and local invasiveness status before planting, and never eat or apply a plant based on this site alone.