By Hobbshouse
United Kingdom 
POTENTILLA, Hi, I have 2 different Potentilla planted this summer in deep raised beds. I understood them to be hardy but the recent frost and snow has made them look very sorry for themselves. All green has gone and they look dead. Will they, in fact, perk up as spring approaches or have they gone for good? (I bought them from a car-boot sale so they may not have been the healthiest to begin with although they were lovely in the summer) Hope someone can help
23 Jan, 2010
Answers
Potentilla are herbaceousplants so the foliage will die away in the winter. I expect that the leaves are a greyish brown and soft at the moment and that they break appart when you touch them? This is normal. Don't deliberately pull the leaves away but leave them alone and they will produce new foliage in the spring.
23 Jan, 2010
Potentilla suffruticosa is a semi-decidous shrub and as tough as old boots. So, it does lose its leaves in a hard winter, but they reappear in Spring.
The herbaceous ones as said, do die back in Winter, though again in mild ones they can retain some leaves.
24 Jan, 2010
Thanks to you all for the advice. I'll leave well alone and look forward to the pretty flowers I had last summer!
This is a great site by the way..Ive found answers to 2 other questions in past messages. Glad to be here :)
24 Jan, 2010
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it is clased as hardy,so it could recover' and it is perennial so it could have seeded it's self.
23 Jan, 2010