Lady's mantle

Alchemilla mollis, known as lady's mantle, is an indispensable perennial for anyone who wants to bring harmony and softness to the garden. Its home is the moister environments of mountain meadows and light forests, making it a very adaptable plant that will survive even severe frosts without problems in our climate. The 'Irish Silk' cultivar is prized for its vitality and abundant blooming, where clouds of tiny, yellow-green flowers float above clumps of gray-green leaves. It is precisely this neutral color that can work wonders in a flower bed – it softens overly sharp contrasts between other flowers and beautifully unifies the entire composition. Besides its ornamental function, lady's mantle also has practical uses. Thanks to its clumping growth and ability to quickly fill in, it is ideal for edging pathways or as an underplanting beneath taller shrubs and roses. Water droplets catch on its leaves, creating a magical spectacle in the garden. If you enjoy making bouquets, you will love lady's mantle as versatile filler greenery that matches almost anything. It will last beautiful for about ten days in a vase, and its inflorescences can also be easily dried without losing too much of their color or shape. Moreover, it is a magnet for pollinators, and its young leaves are even edible, so it also finds use in a natural kitchen.

Lady's mantle 'Robustica' will bring freshness and harmony to your flower beds with its bright green leaves and a flood of tiny flowers. In the wild, it can be found in damp meadows and by streams, and even in the garden, it is very hardy and vigorous. Its main advantage is its decorative leaves with fine hairs, which hold water droplets after rain or in the morning – an effect that has fascinated gardeners for centuries. The 'Robustica' cultivar lives up to its name with its upright growth and strong structure, growing up to 60 cm tall and requiring no support. In flower beds, it plays an important role as a connecting element. It is often planted as an edging for walkways or as a companion plant for roses and peonies, providing them with a calm, green background. In addition to its ornamental function, it is also useful – it attracts pollinators and its leaves are edible. If you like to be creative, you will appreciate it in cut bouquets, where it stays fresh for about ten days. It is equally well suited for drying; just harvest it in full bloom and hang it up, so it reminds you of summer even in the winter months.

Dwarf Lady's Mantle is a smaller and more elegant sister to the more famous Lady's Mantle. This charming perennial comes from the mountain meadows of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, where it forms low cushions in rock crevices and on grassy slopes. It got its species name from its strikingly red-colored stems, which create a beautiful contrast with its grayish-green leaves. These have the ability to catch drops of morning dew or rain, which sparkle on them like little pearls, giving the plant a magical look. Thanks to its compact growth, reaching a height of only about 25 centimeters, it is an ideal choice for edging flowerbeds, for rockeries, or as an underplanting beneath taller perennials and roses. It blooms from May to July with a flood of tiny lime-yellow blossoms that will brighten up even the semi-shady corners of the garden. It is a completely undemanding plant suitable even for novice growers, it does not suffer from pests or diseases, and reliably handles even stronger frosts. In floristry, Lady's Mantle is valued as universal supplementary greenery. Its airy inflorescences add lightness and volume to bouquets, while staying fresh in a vase for a long time. Furthermore, the flowers can be perfectly dried and used in winter arrangements.