Shrubby Cinquefoil

Size, growth and what to expect

Shrubby cinquefoil grows at a medium pace, 6 inches to a foot a year in our growth estimator. It makes a dense, rounded shrub 1 to 4 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide, and its older bark sheds in thin strips. On moist marl sites in New York, the oldest plant studied was 36 years old, and one at the Arnold Arboretum had grown there 65 years by 1955. Each leaf is cut into three to seven narrow leaflets, usually five, which give the plant its name.

Bright yellow flowers about an inch across open from June into September, a few at a time over the whole season. In a two-year trial, the wild species drew more bumble bees and leafcutter bees than its cultivars 'Goldfinger' and 'Pink Beauty'. Butterflies visit the flowers too.

It grows wild across Canada and Alaska and south through the western mountains to New Mexico and California. In the East it reaches from Maine to Minnesota and south to New Jersey, Ohio and Illinois. There it grows in fens fed by limy groundwater, in wet meadows and on rocky shores.

How to grow Shrubby Cinquefoil

Shrubby cinquefoil flowers best in full sun and takes part shade. It grows in sand, loam or clay, limy or acid, and once rooted it stands drought and road salt. In the wild it grows in fens, often on hummocks, but in a garden it wants soil that drains and never stands in water. It does poorly in the hot, humid summers of the Southeast. Set plants 3 feet apart and keep them 3 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Seed needs no treatment, though it sprouts less after months in storage. Sow it on damp soil in spring. Seedlings come up within four weeks.

Water it every day for the first two weeks after planting, then every two to three days until week 12. After that, water weekly through the first two summers. In late winter or early spring, take out a third of the oldest stems to keep it dense. When it grows ragged with age, cut every stem to the ground to renew it.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Spider mites can be troublesome in hot weather, and leaf spots and mildew trouble it where summers are humid. The small, hairy seeds ripen in fall and hang on through winter.