Brightening up the garden with potentilla

FROM NOW UNTIL fall, the border of my terrace will be brightened by the cheery flowers of potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa). As the five buttercup-yellow petals of each flower open wide, they seem to smile back at the sun. The quantity of bloom will taper off after this month, but even a few of these two-inch blooms, set above the dainty foliage, are enough to cheer up each of the foot-high plants.

Potentilla is an ideal plant for this terrace border. Most of the plants are unshaded,

Garden Notes

SPRINGFIELD Pond tour

The Pioneer Valley Water Garden & Koi Club will be holding its 28th annual Pond Tour today from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., rain or shine. This self-guided tour will allow visitors to see nine backyard ponds in Hampden and Hampshire counties in Massachusetts and Northern Con- where they happily bask in summer sun, even though the sun’s heat is intensified as it beats down on adjacent terrace bricks. In winter, po - tentilla plants are undaunted by icy cold. And the cold hand of winter reaches especially deep beneath these bushes, since the planted border is raised above ground level. Because the border is raised, this soil also tends to get dry in summer. Did I say “soil?” Actually, I filled the bed with whatever I could find in the way of sand, soil, and organic materials. But no matter, potentilla tolerates soils that are acidic or alkaline, and wet or dry.

The plant is at its best now; in winter the row of potentillas looks like a roll of tumbleweed bordering the terrace. But the tangle of brown stems are somewhat attractive pok- ing up through and catching bits of snow, definitely preferable to bare soil. The bushes are scraggly (potentilla has been described as a “shrubby shrub”), but not overly so because of their small size and tight growth habit. With age, plants do get ragged enough to require some pruning. necticut at their own pace for just $20 per car. Tickets are sold online at pioneervalleykoipond.club

Purchasers will be sent a link to locations, descriptions, and photographs of all the ponds open for this years’ tour.

Send items for Garden Notes to pmastriano@repub.com two weeks prior to publication.

Terry & Kim Kovel | Antiques & Collecting