Nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott'
Potentilla nepalensis 'Miss Willmott' ·
Strawberry-like leaves and long, trailing stems of cherry-pink flowers with a darker red eye, all summer.
- Size
- 16 in tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Mid June to late August
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Weaver
A bed built around nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott'
The planner designed this bed around nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' × 2, pink
- 2 Blue moor grass × 8, purple
- 3 Sedum 'Lidakense' × 26, pink
- 4 Foxglove beardtongue × 3, white
- 5 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 6 Inkberry 'Gem Box' × 1, dark green leaves
- 7 Schubert's allium × 2, pink
- 8 Spring starflower × 12, blue
Why this plant
- The only open bowls. The others are spires, dense clusters, daisies and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- In the middle. At 16 in it is the step between sedum 'Lidakense' (4 in) in front and inkberry 'Gem Box' (2½ ft) behind: each is seen over the one before.
- 2 plants in 2 places. An accent is a punctuation mark: the repeat along the bed gives it rhythm.
Why now
- In flower for 11 weeks. From mid June to late August.
- Fills a gap. For three of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 5 groups (80%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 50% of the visual weight and the right half 50%. Low plants run along 100% of the front edge: blue moor grass and sedum 'Lidakense'.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 6 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' goes in a border
At 16 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is short (12 to 18 in).
Its job: weaver. A light, airy plant threaded singly between sturdier ones to knit the planting together.
It wanders between its neighbours and flowers among them without doing harm. Let it weave through the front of a border. Short-lived in heavy, wet soil.
- Weaving through the front of a border
- Cottage gardens
- Long summer flowering
What to plant with nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Lady's mantle: red against green, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for four weeks.
- Catmint 'Walker's Low': in flower together for 11 weeks, from mid June; spires rising out of its mound.
- Lamb's ear: its silver leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; bold leaves against its medium ones; spires rising out of its mound.
Questions about nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott'
Does nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' need sun or shade?
Nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.
What zones does nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 8. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid June to late August. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 5 | Mid June to late August |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Mid June to late August |
| Zone 7 | Early June to mid August |
| Zone 8 | Early June to mid August |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 16 in (40 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, threaded between sturdier plants.
In the bed above, the planner used two in two groups.
Is nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to the ASPCA.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Is there a native plant like nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott'?
Nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Stokes' aster: the same size and the same flowering time; a drift, not a weaver, blue, purple or white, not pink.
- Burnet 'Tanna': the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers early July to early September, red, not pink.
- Scarlet coral bells: the same size and the same colour; an edging, not a weaver, flowers late May to late July.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott'?
Nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' is over by late August. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall.
- Sedum 'Autumn Joy': from mid August to mid October, 24 in tall.
- Autumn moor grass: from mid August to early October, 16 in tall.
What does nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' look like in winter?
Nepal cinquefoil 'Miss Willmott' dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 16 in (40 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Short (12 to 18 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Mid June to late August; open bowls; pink, red
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Checked against ASPCA poison lists. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.