A very cold-hardy plant, Potentilla palustris (Marsh Cinquefoil) is a rhizomatous, woody-based perennial of open habit with upright reddish stems and gray-green leaves formed of 5-7 leaflets, each lance-shaped and heavily toothed. In early to mid-summer, it produces loose clusters of 1-3 deep red flowers with large, red-flushed sepals. Resembling dainty, single roses, the blossoms are very attractive to bees and hoverflies. Marsh Cinquefoil requires a persistently watery habitat and is completely at home in free-standing water, its stems submerged with aquatic roots and just the upper stems ascending above the water line.

• Grows up to 12-24 in. tall (30-60 cm) and 24-36 in. wide (60-90 cm).
• Performs best in full sun in permanently wet, alkaline, or neutral soil. Can grow in water 1-3 in. deep (2-7 cm).
• Virtually pest and disease free. Rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.
• Cut flowering stems down to the ground level in autumn
• Propagate by seed, or by division, in autumn or spring
• Native to the temperate North Hemisphere.