Lady's mantle
Alchemilla mollis · Rosaceae Popular
Scalloped, velvety leaves that hold beads of rain like mercury, under a froth of tiny chartreuse flowers in early summer.
- Size
- 18 in tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Flowers
- Late May to early July
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Edging
A bed built around lady's mantle
The planner designed this bed around lady's mantle when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden in zone 6, part sun. It chose the other plants from the 708 that suit those conditions, and says below why lady's mantle stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Lady's mantle × 3, green
- 2 Green-and-gold × 8, yellow
- 3 Leadwort × 10, blue
- 4 Garden phlox 'David' × 3, white
- 5 Purple milkweed × 3, purple
- 6 Globe arborvitae 'Danica' × 1, green leaves
- 7 Camassia × 5, blue
- 8 Surprise lily × 10, pink
Why this plant
- The only airy sprays. The others are daisies, dense clusters, flat plates and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- A classic partner for surprise lily. Both are on this plan. A pairing gardeners have proved outranks a general rule.
- The only green. Green sits between stronger colours and calms them.
Why here
- At the back. At 18 in it stands behind the taller globe arborvitae 'Danica' (24 in).
- A step in the back row. Next to purple milkweed (3 ft) and garden phlox 'David' (3½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for six weeks. From late May to early July.
- Part of the bed's peak. With green-and-gold and camassia in late May: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as a cottage garden: 28 of the 28 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. The flowering is at its height from late May, with 3 kinds out together. Purple milkweed and garden phlox 'David' anchor the back corners of the bed: the tallest plants on the plan stand there.
The planner's own design check: 13 Excellent, 4 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where lady's mantle goes in a border
At 18 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is short (12 to 18 in).
Its job: edging. A low, neat plant used in short runs of three or five along the front to finish the edge (or, in a formal bed, in one even row).
Chartreuse goes with every colour, so this is one of the great mixers of the English border: under roses, beside blue cranesbills, in front of anything. Cut it to the ground after flowering for fresh leaves and fewer seedlings.
- Soft edging that spills over a path
- A foil for roses and blue flowers
- Cut flowers as filler
What to plant with lady's mantle
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Cranesbill 'Rozanne': in flower together for five weeks, from early June.
- Siberian iris: in flower together for four weeks, from late May; tall enough (2½ ft) to stand behind it; happy in the same moist soil.
- Astilbe: red against green, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for three weeks; happy in the same moist soil.
Questions about lady's mantle
Does lady's mantle need sun or shade?
Lady's mantle grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day), part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun) and part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning).
It wants soil that stays evenly moist, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does lady's mantle grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does lady's mantle flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to early July. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 3 | Mid June to mid July |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Early June to mid July |
| Zone 5 | Late May to early July |
| Zone 6 | Late May to early July |
| Zone 7 | Mid May to late June |
| Zone 8 | Early May to late June |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should lady's mantle be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 18 in (45 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many lady's mantle plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as runs of three or five along the front (or one even row, in a formal bed).
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is lady's mantle poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat lady's mantle?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer and rabbits. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
Will lady's mantle spread?
It seeds itself about; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Self-seeds freely. Remove the spent flowers to limit seedlings.
What flowers after lady's mantle?
Lady's mantle is over by early July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall.
- Butterfly weed: from late June to early August, 24 in tall.
- Daylily: from late June to early August, 2½ ft tall.
What does lady's mantle look like in winter?
Lady's mantle dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
Is lady's mantle good for bees and butterflies?
Lady's mantle is visited by butterflies.
More Alchemilla
- Dwarf lady's mantle Alchemilla erythropoda
In these guides
- Deer-resistant plants for shade
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Rabbit-resistant plants
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Pet-safe plants for shade
- Plants for butterflies
- Silver and grey-leaved plants
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 18 in (45 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Short (12 to 18 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late May to early July; airy sprays; green
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; grey-green
- Shape
- Mounding, self-seeding
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun, part shade
- Soil
- Average, evenly moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
- Family
- Rosaceae
- Comes from
- Eastern Carpathians, Caucasus
- Attracts
- Butterflies
- Stands up to
- Deer, rabbits
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.