This week, I decided to talk about an underrated ornamental plant called Shrubby Cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa). 20 years ago, it was cast out from the Potentilla genus, but if I were a Cinquefoil species I’d be petitioning the powers-that-be to re-invite it based on all its wonderful qualities. It definitely has a role to play in all food forests. Please consider it next time you have a tricky spot to fill - it’s been known to survive USDA 2 (-50F, -45C).
In terms of potential breeding projects, does anyone have any ideas? It’s already extraordinarily hardy and easy to propagate. Perhaps this plant is fine as is.
As an ornamental a lot of breeding work has been done with it and it comes in a wide variety of flower colors with some flower size variation. It is also a native shrub in Western North America- Hold that thought, it is circumboreal and throughout the entire Northern hemisphere- including Eastern North America- look at the Inaturalist map! Also it is in the rose family, and it should be a reasonable planting for a component of a pollinator mix as such. It is likely to provide larval food for some kind of native insects anywhere in its natural range. Might be worth poking around on butterfly / moth websites to find out which of those it might be good larval food for. Potentillas tend to have a dry fruited version of the receptacle that is so fleshy and delicious in strawberries.
There is a fun pink flowered strain of strawberry that resulted from an introgression from potentilla. A reverse introgression could bring the fleshy fruited trait(s) into shrubby cinquefoil. However, it may be a very distant possibility using traditional methods. I wouldn’t rule it out, but I also wouldn’t be too hopeful.
My other species is Claytonia lanceolata. The both grow in the same grove of trees. Looks like a patch of the third species grows about 80 miles from me. Road trip in April?
Курильский чай (Kurillian tea) is a highly respected herbal tea by those I know in Siberia. When ever they see the plant in scandinavian garden, the notice and tell me, what a delightful and healthy tea it produces.
