Jun

Alpine Lady’s Mantle – Lady’s Mantle’s little sister?

Posted by frann under Not so common herbs

ladysmantlealpine Alpine Ladys Mantle Ladys Mantles little sister? Alpine Lady’s Mantle, Alchemilla alpina, is also called mountain lady’s mantle and silvery lady’s mantle. It is a native of western and northern europe mainly found at higher elevations, but has been found growing wild in Utah, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Washington state, probably as a garden escape.

The plant itself is like a small version of garden lady’s mantle attaining a height and spread of only 6 inches (15 cm), but with white edging to the leaves, as can be clearly seen in the photograph. It’s closely related both to the intermediate lady’s mantle and the garden lady’s mantle.

If you have alkaline soil, you will have to grow alpine lady’s mantle in a container and water with rain water (unless you are sure that your water is not also alkaline). It does not mind about the structure of the soil, even coping with heavy clay so long as it is well drained, and will grow either in full sun or semi shade.

Like most alpine plants, it is quite slow growing and will not spread quickly. It doesn’t require pollination, so you can just buy a single plant and still end up with viable seeds.

If you have a problem with rabbits in the garden, the lady’s mantles may be useful to you, as rabbits don’t seem to harm them.

Alpine lady’s mantle is used in the same ways as lady’s mantle, so please refer to the entry for that plant for more details.