Plants of the Week for March 4th 2019
The Golden Ruby Barberry is a dwarf barberry with coral orange foliage. It gets two feet tall and wide without trying to be rangy like it’s fellow cousins. Golden Ruby can handle being in sun or shade spots but it’s color is best when it gets at least 6 hours of sun. I like to use it for a border plant to contrast perennials and larger shrubs. It also fits in tight spots that are now wider than 3 feet.
Gold Finger Potentilla is an old favorite for places that have lots of heat, sun and not the best soils. Gold Finger keeps to about 3 feet tall and wide. Flowers in summer with deep yellow blooms. Though it can get rangy over time, these plants can handle a lot of and are easy to care for. I like to use these in desert landscapes or less formal design that needs something colorful and tough. To keep them from getting rangy I like to prune them hard every three years to encourage new branching in late Feb/March. Potentillas play nice with perennial salvia and lavenders.