# Three-toothed Cinquefoil (Sibbaldia tridentata)

> A low evergreen mat of mountaintops and rocky shores, with glossy three-part leaves that turn wine-red in fall and white flowers in summer.

Family: Rosaceae (rose family). Also called shrubby fivefingers, wineleaf potentilla, Sibbaldiopsis tridentata, Potentilla tridentata. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/three-toothed-cinquefoil/

![Three-toothed cinquefoil (Sibbaldia tridentata) mat of white flowers and three-part leaves on rock](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/three-toothed-cinquefoil-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Gilles Ayotte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASibbaldia_tridentata_15-p.bot-poten.triden-08.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 9
- Grows wild in: Rocky ground, the Appalachians, the coast and sandy barrens
- Native range: 21 states, north and west to [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND) and south to [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA) ([Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI))
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Flowers: June to August
- Fruit: Seeds, July to September
- First crop: 2 years (first flowers)
- Mature spread: 2 ft
- Traits: Evergreen, Showy flowers, Fall color, Drought tolerant, Rare
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Three-toothed cinquefoil is a low evergreen of rocky summits, ledges and shores, a mat of glossy leaves on woody lower stems. Each leaf has three leaflets, each notched into three teeth at the tip. It is a plant of the far North that follows the high mountains south, and in a garden it wants the same thin, open ground. Iowa and New Jersey list it as endangered, and Connecticut and Tennessee list it as threatened. Grow it as a groundcover in a sunny rock garden or between the stones of a walk.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Three-toothed cinquefoil grows at a medium pace for its size, a few inches a year in our growth estimator. It makes a mat 2 to 12 inches high and 1 to 2 feet wide, and its lower stems are woody, with shredding gray-brown bark. The glossy, dark green leaves last through winter, and in sun they turn deep red to burgundy in fall.

Clusters of up to 25 small white flowers open from June to August, the first at the tip of each stem. The seed heads turn from green to grayish brown three to four weeks after the flowers. Butterflies visit the flowers.

It grows wild from Greenland and Labrador west to the Northwest Territories, and south to Connecticut, the Great Lakes and northeastern Iowa. Farther south it follows exposed mountaintops to Georgia. Its home is rocky and gravelly shores, ledges, mountain balds and alpine tundra, often on acid soil.

## How to grow Three-toothed Cinquefoil

Three-toothed cinquefoil wants full sun and a lean, acid soil of sand, gravel or rock, and good drainage is essential. It takes an average garden soil that drains well, and it stands drought once established. It will not hold its own against taller plants in rich soil, so give it open ground. Set plants 2 feet apart and keep them 2 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. Collect the seed heads as they turn grayish brown, three to four weeks after the flowers. Sow fresh seed outdoors at once, and it comes up the next spring. For a spring sowing, hold stored seed damp in the refrigerator for 6 weeks first.

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. Before each watering, push a finger a few inches into the soil, and wait if it is still wet. Divide the mat every three or four years, or sooner if it looks crowded, best in fall.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. It has no serious pests or diseases, and it resists verticillium wilt. Seedlings take two years to flower.

## Sources

- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SITR3)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/sibbaldiopsis-tridentata/)
- [Native Plant Trust, Go Botany: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/sibbaldiopsis/tridentata/)
- [Minnesota Wildflowers: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/three-toothed-cinquefoil)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata](http://floranorthamerica.org/Sibbaldiopsis_tridentata)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.129815/Sibbaldiopsis_tridentata)
- [Iowa Administrative Code 571, chapter 77, Endangered and threatened plant and animal species](https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/571.77.pdf)
- [Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection: Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species, 2015](https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DEEP/wildlife/pdf_files/nongame/ETS15pdf.pdf)
- [Tennessee Division of Natural Areas: Tennessee Rare Plant List, 2025](https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/natural-areas/documents/na_tn-rare-plant-list.pdf)
- [Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation: Natural Heritage Resources of Virginia, Rare Plants](https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf)
- [West Virginia Natural Heritage Program: Rare, Threatened and Endangered Plants, 2020](http://wvdnr.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/RTE_Plants.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/SITR3)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Low native shrubs and groundcovers for sun, shade, sand and bog](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/low-native-shrubs-and-groundcovers/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [What a young tree looks like: first-year seedlings of oak, walnut, hickory, chestnut, maple and redbud, and the weed trees to pull](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-young-tree-looks-like/index.html.md)

## Related

- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Bearberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bearberry/index.html.md), [Creeping Juniper](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/creeping-juniper/index.html.md), [Roundleaf Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roundleaf-serviceberry/index.html.md) and [Velvetleaf Blueberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/velvetleaf-blueberry/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Carolina Buckthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/carolina-buckthorn/index.html.md), [White Wicky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/white-wicky/index.html.md), [Nantucket Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/nantucket-serviceberry/index.html.md) and [Broom Crowberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/broom-crowberry/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Three-toothed Cinquefoil, add ?species=three-toothed-cinquefoil with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 3, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=three-toothed-cinquefoil&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Three-toothed Cinquefoil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=three-toothed-cinquefoil): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Three-toothed Cinquefoil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=three-toothed-cinquefoil (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Three-toothed Cinquefoil is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=three-toothed-cinquefoil (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Three-toothed Cinquefoil needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=three-toothed-cinquefoil:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Three-toothed Cinquefoil where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=three-toothed-cinquefoil&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Three-toothed Cinquefoil goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=three-toothed-cinquefoil&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Three-toothed Cinquefoil flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=three-toothed-cinquefoil