Alchemilla
Lady’s Mantle
You might not transmute gold with Alchemilla, but foamy clusters of tiny, starlike flowers in brilliant chartreuse will materialize above beautifully scalloped, slightly toothed foliage. A contrast of forms, Alchemilla was used to collect dewdrops in the medieval preparation of the Philosopher’s Stone. We find the way moisture collects and moves like mercury on the pale green leaves always magical. Whether fresh or dried, the flowers are a favored addition to any bouquet.
Indigenous to Greenland and Newfoundland, this snug low growing Alchemilla combines elfin charm with enduring resilience. The petite dark green leaves are distinguished by deep separate lobes, delicate silver margins and soft hairy undersides beneath a dainty effervescence of clustered chartreuse flowers perched on short stems. Touting age-old curative properties plus superb cold hardiness, Alchemilla alpina’s diminutive mound can be cozied against rocks, along paths or atop stone walls where it abides poor, lean soil but cherishes well-drained, somewhat moist niches.
Blooms June-August
Size: 6" – 8" high x 8" – 12" wide.
Hardy to zone 4.
Let this low growing, wonderfully textured plant creep its way around the shaded stepping stones of your woodland garden. Let the wine red stems and miniature, sometimes silver-edged, deeply lobed and scalloped green foliage surprise you under Helleborus, Astrantia or Tricyrtis.
Blooms April–mid-August.
Size: 2" high x 12" wide.
Hardy to zone 6.
This charming dwarf Alchemilla sprouts gray- green serrated foliage and zesty citron-yellow flower clusters that don a reddish cast once they’re spent. We plant it primarily as a ground cover in small niches of the rockery.
Blooms April–August
Size: 5" high x 10" wide.
Hardy to zone 5.
Trimmed with silver-haired teeth, shallow rounded lobes sculpt the soft-as-velvet, olive-green palmate foliage, while effervescent sprays of thirst quenching lemon-lime flowers linger above. Growing larger than Alchemilla ‘Auslese’, this Alchemilla delivers radiant appeal in dappled light amid blue flowering Brunnera.
Blooms April–mid-August.
Size: 10" high x 12" wide.
Hardy to zone 5.
Profuse sprays of yellow-green frothy flowers adorn a mound of lush gray-green foliage, much larger than our other Alchemilla offerings. The leaves alone will enhance the foreground of any perennial border. ‘Auslese’ prefers cool moist soil, so we oblige by planting it in a woodland setting under a high canopy.
Blooms April–mid-August.
Size: 15" – 18" high x 2' 0" wide.
Hardy to zone 4.
Frothy pouffes of starry chartreuse flowers carried on sturdy, mostly upright stems are a florist’s dream and a gardener’s good fortune. Rounded grayish green leaves are a little larger than the species, featuring palmate veins, minute satiny white hairs and partially folded lobes, adopting an exquisite pleated appearance. All this charming detail deserves a closer look, so situate ‘Robusta’ along a well-trodden path or favored bench where you’ll be rewarded with a repeat autumn bloom.
Blooms April–mid-July
Size: 18" high x 2' 0" wide.
Hardy to zone 4.
