Lady's mantle is a perennial for the front of the border, where it will grow in handsome clumps with gray-green foliage and a bright shock of chartreuse flowers in springtime. Sun or shade and well-draining soil will keep Alchemilla mollis happy.

Lady’s mantle is a quintessential cottage garden perennial that forms charming, low clumps to spill over the edge of a flower border and onto a path, where it gets attention fro passersby with its foamy chartreuse flowers on gracefully arched stems.

A versatile plant, lady’s mantle will thrive in shade or sun, has a long season of interest (its foliage stays pretty from spring through autumn) and will naturalize happily in well-drained soil.

One of about 300 species in the Alchemilla genus, Alchemilla mollis is a close relative to its cousin, A. vulgaris, which is more commonly used for medicinal purposes. With pretty fan-shaped leaves and gray-green foliage, lady’s mantle is an excellent foil to blue or purple flowers (and mingles particularly well with low-growing Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’). Interplant it with spring-flowering bulbs to hide fading foliage.

Nowadays, it is very popular in gardens but also grows in wet fields, in the mountains and forests. Lady’s Mantle Herb has many medicinal uses. The root and leaves of the plant are harvested in midsummer. It is often called a “woman’s herb” because it treats some women’s diseases. The leaves are used to relieve menopausal symptoms (such as hot flashes and night sweats), menstrual problems (it regulates menstrual flow and relieves the pain). In some cases of endometriosis which results in excessive bleeding, Lady’s Mantle can tone and dries the womb.