Pink Whisper Potentilla
Botanically known as Potentilla fruiticosa ‘Pink Whisper’ this is an excellent plant to put in your yard. It’s easy to grow, easy to care for, flowers all summer into the fall and it’s really easy to propagate.
Pink Whisper Potentilla loves full sun and maybe a little bit ofvshade. But it’s not a good selection for a shady or even a semi shady location. It takes some sunshine to make this baby perform at it’s best.
This plant is hardy from zone 4 through zone 7 and some even rate this plant hardy down to zone 2. That’s amazingly hardy!
Pink Whisper Potentilla Flower.
The best part about Pink Whisper Potentilla?
It’s super easy to propagate! I do hundreds of these in June and July Using this System and I do hundreds more in December as Hardwood Cuttings. That means that you can essentially propagate this plant from early June through late March in almost all climates.
Potentilla has always amazed me. We stick these little tiny, thin, delicate cuttings. It’s like there is nothing to them. Then we leave them outside, uncovered, in the worst of Ohio’s winter weather with temperatures dropping well below zero. In the spring when you look at the propagation beds you are thinking to yourself; “There is no way those little tiny cuttings survived the winter.” Then a week later you see buds, then leaves. It’s amazing how tough they are.
When we remove them from the propagation beds they are still skinny and scrawny by alive. In a matter of no time they grow into this amazing plant.
One of the best things that I like about Potentilla of all varieties is the more you cut them back the fuller they get and the more they bloom. Potentilla blooms on current years growth. That means that they never fail to bloom because the flower buds never see winter weather.
They start growing in the spring, start making flower buds in early summer and just keep right on blooming until fall. In the fall I cut them back really hard so they look great again the following growing season. When I cut them back in the fall, all of the wood that I remove can be used for hardwood cuttings.
Pink Whisper Potentilla is a great seller for me and it always sells crazy when somebody offers rooted cuttings or liners for sale in the Members Area. A rooted cutting is exactly as it sounds, a cutting, pretty much a stick, with some leaves and roots on the bottom. A liner is a rooted cutting that has been grown out for one growing season. It is starting to branch out and has a much heavier root system than a rooted cutting.
If you have questions or comments about this plant post them below and I’ll do my best to answer them for you.
Would like to buy pink potentilla!
Hi Mike, I love a lot of the plants you show on your website but I don’t know how to purchase them here in Nevada. I would like to try the whisper pink potentilla.
Corky,
Currently I am not selling online but many of our members do in the members area. And they sell cheap, really, really low wholesale pricing. http://backyardgrowers.com/join
Mike
Would you please consider the likelihood that the common honeybee will or will not be interested in your flowering varieties. I am quite sure that many bee keepers are interested in such information.
Ron German
I just came upon your site a several months ago and haven’t been able to interact much or purchase anything. I’m hoping to be able to do some gardening here in northeast SD this summer and will be very happy to have your tips and suggestions.. I appreciate your site. Thanks!
Mike I appreciate your tips and suggestions; just a little remark the correct botanical name is potentilla fruticosa..
Giovanni,
Potentilla fruiticosa is just generic potentilla. Potentilla fruiticosa ‘Pink Whisper’ is the actual variety that I am describing here.
I think what Giovanni is saying, is the spelling is “fruticosa”
Yeah, I might have mis-spelled it. I don’t worry about little details like that I just get a lot done.
Mike,
I have read that Albert Einstein was not a good speller, both in English and in his native German, probably because his mind was focused on other things, and his best language was math, anyway.
You converse in plants, and I enjoy your posts.
Although I am one of those irritatingly good spellers who can spot a misspelled word a mile away, I’m a bad typist who often transposes letters when typing fast (I swear it’s a keyboard malfunction—it can’t possibly be me screwing up so badly! : )
With busy people, you have to overlook those tiny errors. If we demand perfect spelling, typing and grammar in every post, the tradeoff is getting a lot less information, and that would be a great loss.
Donna
Donna,
You’re right, I don’t proof read as much as I should before posting and mistakes happen. People complained about it when I first got online 19 years ago and here I am today still making mistakes. Most simply don’t care.
Mike –
That’s known as ‘error code 401’; ‘Too many fingers on keyboard srror’.
A major issue for me is deer. Would this plant be a s nack for “Bambi” ?
Deb,
This plant isn’t deer proof, but it is deer resilient. It will recover if eaten.
I would love to get this plant for my beds in my front yard. Is this a perennial? (I may have missed it). Where would I buy this? I would love to get some! 🙂
Thank you Mike!
Marlene,
Yes, this plant is hardy, comes back every year. They are probably tricky to find, but they are often available in our members area for $2.00 or less quite often. http://backyardgrowers.com/join
Mike,
The biggest problem I have with growing plants is those hungry deer. This year, they even ate my lantana down to the crowns, and they had never bothered those in previous years. Are deer a problem around your nursery and if so, what do you do to protect your plants?
Donna,
It’s not a big problem for me but it is for my customers. Fence is really the best option.
Mike, I am curious how tall does the Potentilla get? Lovely plant, but I am always checking heights for stair casing new plants.
Thank you so much for your wonderful site and encouragement you give to all of us plant lovers.
Jo Ann,
Typical height is probably about 18 to 24 inches and you really want to cut it back hard each fall.
Hi Mike
This plant resembles the Rockrose, are they in the same family? Also, is it evergreen or deciduous? I live in Poulsbo Wa.
Linna
Linna, not familiar with Rockrose. This plant is deciduous.
Too that your growers group meetings are so far away from the Charlotte, NC region. I would love to attend, but it would be a long drive to buy cuttings and various pants. Hey maybe a mailable variety box with cuttings and a Purple Ghost Japanese Maple. I follow your posts and tips. I have a great place for maples, azalea, rhododendrons, and semi shade plants. Acre to plant out.
Michael,
Our meetings are not really where plants are bought and sold. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of plants have been bought and sold inside of our members area, http://backyardgrowers.com/join, and these sales take place 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There is always something being bought and sold in the members area.
where can i purchase them ( whisper pink poteentilla )
Joe,
They can be difficult to find but they are often available in our members area for less that $2 each. http://backyardgrowers.com/join
Regarding Mulberry’s in a comment do you do Summer cuttings or winter? I’ve done a few winter but just starting
Thank you
Deianna,
Softwood in summer would probably be the best bet.
Thanks for the great Potentilla info, I have Sutter Gold and they didn’t do well but pruned back and will wait. Do you also grow caryptersis-longwood blue or bluebeard? I have several and not sure exactly how to encourage growth, I did prune last fall and have pruned a bit this spring. Oh, and thanks for the sharpening instruction on the pruners.
Terry,
I don’t grow either of those, but a little fertilizer should wake them up nicely.
How can a non-member purchase anything in the members area.
How do I buy a potentially plant? Thanks.
Iris,
Potentilla are pretty common, you can probably find one locally or online. They are often available in our members area for around a dollar each, for a small plant, but they do grow quickly.
Mike,
Does this plant spread? And will it take Texas heat? Love that it is a perennial.
Thanks for all you do!
Terry in Texas
Terry,
It does not spread much. Texas? Depends on what zone you are in Texas, this is good up to zone 8.
Hi Mike,
Will this plant take the heat? I live in North Carolina, temperatures reach 90 degrees in the summer.
Thanks,
Mary
Mary,
It sure will, gets a lot hotter than that here in Ohio sometimes.
Thanks Mike! I know, I moved from Ohio a year and a half ago after living there for thirty years :)! Not missing the cold and snow !
Hi Mike, I’ve read your website for years and enjoyed how generously you share tips and information on growing plants for our enjoyment. Your are a good man and I appreciate all the beauty that comes from you sharing.
Thanks,
Marilyn from La Mesa, California
Thanks Marilyn, I appreciate that.
I liked your article on the whisper pink potentilla. I would love this in my yard. How big does it get?
Gaylynn,
Only gets 18″ to 24″ tall and wide and can be trimmed as much as you want.
Hi Mike,
I just planted one of its cousins last October, ‘Pink Beauty’, and it had pink flowers right up until December in this crazy-warm zone 5b winter here in southern NH. I was hoping to eventually get it to its full 3′ height. Should I still cut it back once the snow it’s under melts? And if so, how much–to just a couple of inches above ground? Thanks Mike! Also, I’ve just started growing dwarf ‘Issai’ mulberries (morus alba) which from all I’m reading sound like great candidates for propagation. Any thoughts or advice on mulberries?
Lars,
If you are going to prune that potentilla by all means do as soon as the snow melts then not again until early next winter or really late fall. Try this on the mulberry in June http://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/01/easy-summertime-plant-propagation-techniques-can-home/