A supremely useful herb for the home apothecary,  learn how to grow lady’s mantle for beautiful foliage and soft blooms in the garden. Use these alchemilla growing tips to grow the perennial favorite of  herbalists and gardeners alike!

In that garden, it is often all about the flowers.

I am just as culpable to this gardening pitfall as the next person.  It is hard not to be wooed by feathery plumes of Russian sage, dazzled by daisies and coneflowers, and intoxicated by roses.  Flowers greet the senses with beauty, and we are captivated.

But a good garden – a great garden – offers balance.  Balance in the form of structure and design, and, perhaps, most importantly – foliage.  It is foliage that carries the garden will before the garden unfurls its blooms and well after the last blossoms have faded.  It is foliage that makes a garden.

Learn how to grow lady’s mantle to provide your garden with visual rest and keep your home apothecary stocked!

Beautiful foliage comes in many forms from amazing hostas to striking coleuses and saturated heucheras.  But there is one plant that doesn’t lure the eye with bold color, size, or variegation…

It woos with design and finesse.

It woos with an intriguing feature.

And that plant is Lady’s Mantle.

Unlike plants that sizzle with color, lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) is a plant of subtlety.  Scalloped to serrated leaves arise from a basal rosette in shades of soft green.  The lobed leaves are cloak-like in appearance, and offer rest for the eye in an otherwise busy garden bed.  These lovely leaves have a secret feature.  They capture morning dew that beads up like translucent pearls or diamonds that glisten long after the rest of the garden dries in the sun.  Ethereal pale green to yellowish alchemilla flowers top that plant throughout the summer – a monochromatic splendor.  This flowers not bold or boastful, rather they offer an extra layer of texture and calm.

Read more about medicinal uses of lady’s mantle here.

How to Grow Lady’s Mantle

Learn how to grow lady’s mantle to ensure you have an abundance of this useful herb in your home apothecary and to create a peaceful oasis in your garden.  Use these tips for growing alchemilla to ensure success!

• Plant lady’s mantle in part shade to full sun.  It may require more water if placed in full sun or place in a hot location
• Lady’s mantle prefers soils with a neutral pH.
• Plant is soils with modest fertility.  Lady’s mantle is not a heavy feeder and is relatively carefree once established if given adequate water.
• For mass planting effect, place plants no more than eight inches apart so that the plants form a dense, continuous mound. For a more formal look, place plants at least 12 inches apart.
• Plant alongside medicinal plants with similar light and water needs such a blue flag iris or a dark leaved black cohosh (for a study in foliage contrast).
• Flower set July through September and well freely reseed if not deadheaded.
• If propagating from seed in spring, seeds require cold stratification.
• Hardy in USDA zones 3-8

Medicinal Uses & Health Benefits of Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)

Once you learn how to grow lady’s mantle, your garden is sure to reward you with a lovely soft drifts of this perennial, and offer your plenty of medicinal herb to harvest for home remedies!