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| I have a pink beauty potentilla that does not look so good this year. It took forever to get leaves and really didn't bloom well. The middle is very sparse looking. We had no snow cover last year, early hot spring, frost in may and now never ending rain. I am wondering, will it come back better next year? Would a good pruning help? or is it a lost cause? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Jodi
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by duluthinbloomz4 zone 4a (My Page) on Sat, Jun 23, 12 at 14:43
| This was a rainy, chilly late spring for us - we never did get much of the warm/hot spell the rest of the state got. I've had a Pink Beauty since 2007 and so far have only had to clip off an errant branch or two that were ruining the mounded shape. That being said, the literature says to renewal prune by removing 1/3 of the oldest stems in late winter or early spring, or occasionally cut back all stems to the ground to rejuvenate. I wouldn't do anything right now except to maybe do a scratch test on some of the bare branches to see if they're green under the bark layer. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 9:20
| what he/she said ... its overly mature.. and need a hard pruning .. i THINK ... and i hope others will chime in.. this is the type of plant.. that could be cut to the ground.. and fully recover ... and once in a while.. they need it ... and to my eye.. this one needs it.. even if you have to forgo bloom this season ... i am not sure i see any fully dead branches ... if so.. just cut those back to a branch with green ... one last thought .... since its planting.. has it grow into deeper shade??? most shrubs that flower.. need a goodly amount of sun.. even if they can TOLERATE some shade ... no matter what you do.. i seems to think.. it will be very hard to kill this thing ... ken |
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| Plant hardly looks big enough to be "overly mature". It is having other problems, maybe renewal pruning would beat them back, maybe not. As always, effective treatment depends on identifying what, exactly is going on. |
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- Posted by duluthinbloomz4 zone 4a (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 17:10
| The literature has the size of "Pink Beauty" going between 2x3' and 3x3'. It'll probably never be a walloping big shrub despite a plant's tendency to keep growing. This one could well be at mature size - hard to say with nothing to reference it against. Minnesota had a variety of springs this year depending on where in the state one is - some things exploded while other things were delayed. My peonies are just blooming and daylilies setting scapes. |
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- Posted by strobiculate none (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 20:29
| one of the few ways to kill a potentilla is to give it too much water. getting a bit late in year to cut it back, but it responds well to such treatment. shade? we can argue forever about six hours and what constitutes full sun...but for potentilla...in mn...hot and dry as you can get it. we'll discuss and the plant will tell you of our delusional folly |
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| I really thought the shrub was dead this spring. It had no green on it for the longest time. When it started to green up it was sparse looking. Maybe the may frost didn't help. We have had what seemed like never ending rain for 2wks and not the nice gentle summer rain, I am talking downpours. Its currently about 2' h x 3' w, and gets sun from about noon on. When I look deeper into the shrub, there is not much green. It seems to be more on the ends of the branches. Its planted near a sedum and a peonie. I guess i feel like if i prune, there won't be any green left. I might just need to head to my local garden center and take a look. I hate to rip it out but it looks so tough. I would consider pruning but... Any more thoughts? thanks, Jodi |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Mon, Jun 25, 12 at 8:23
| these smallish .... weak limbed shrubs.. can take a beating up here in the great white north.. from ice storms.. and snow load ... obviously.. its not old enough to be overly mature.. a poor choice of words for me ... but that is kinda indicative of the problem.. its not that it is old.. but it LOOKS old ... sorta like that biker chick you thought was as old as grandma.. only to find out.. she is in her late 20's .... maybe the bush has been partying too hard... lol ken |
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