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Alchemilla mollis
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Posted by
miclino 5 MI (
My Page) on
Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 19:31
| What are your experiences with this plant and in what conditions does it work best for you? Also, anyone compared the regular plant vs the new thriller variety? Pics of how you have used it in your garden would be appreciated. I'm under the impression it can take some sun but correct me if I'm wrong. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| I have had both but lost them in last years drought. Had them planted in half day sun and with them being young plants they died fast in the heat. They don't take transplanting well for me.Had the taller mollis years ago. It was a very happy plant and multiplied quickly. I really like this plant but she is floppy. At that time I was unaware that you could probably just cut it back to get new foliage. It would likely fall again in heavy rain. My favorite was alchemilla erythropoda a dwarf. It was so cute and I was so angry at myself for allowing it to go dry. Beautiful foliage on alchemilla. Stunning after a rain at least to me but I'm easy to please. Never saw any disease on them while they were here. Maybe others can tell you more but I couldn't see much difference between the two you asked about. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| I was under the impression that this was a fairly short plant. Is it the flowers that flop? |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| miclino, I am not aware what others comments are about, The old Lady's Mantle would make your impression correct. I am not aware of a new variety, It grows like a medium Hosta which is where I use mine....... In the hosta garden. I do have one in part sun. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| I've had Alchemilla mollis growing in full shade, part shade & part sun for a number of years. It's growing in consistently good soil that's likely slightly acidic. It appears to like it best in part sun, at least where I am. I agree with pattyw5's comment that it's stunning after a rain. I once happened upon it when droplets of rain tipped along the edges of the leaves giving them the appearance of having diamonds adorning each one. I like its low, mounding habit and the contrast its velvety foliage provides to other shade perennials like hosta, heuchera, astilbe, ferns, toad lily, Jacob's ladder, Hellebore/Lenten rose, & turtlehead. I also like & appreciate its low/no-maintenance habit. I've yet to see it bothered by any pests and it tends to itself rather than needing any help from me which puts it in the best-of-all categories in my book. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| At my last house, I had some in part sun that were very happy. At my current house, I tried them again, but they had more direct sun and also were competing with tree roots (spruce), so they dried up and died on me. I do love them, but haven't gotten around to getting more to try in another spot. The ones at the old house were indeed very low maintenance, and lovely with the raindrops on the leaves. They do need a bit of moisture and not too much direct sun, it seems. (They were at the bottom of a hill at the old house, which I think helped the water issue, since I never ever watered them once they were established). |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| I've had it in full, blazing sun as well as shade with a bit of after noon sun. It has done fine anywhere I've had it. Like gardenweed, I do find it does do best in a richer soil. After about 4 years it started seeding prolifically so I transplanted some larger seedlings into an area of the garden with not the best soil and it's limping along. I did not give it extra water in sun, did find the flowers to flop, but I really grow it for the foliage so sometimes cut off the floppy flowers. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| It didn't do well for me the first couple of years after planting, so I was on the fence with this one. This year, it is STUNNING. The area gets early morning and late afternoon sun, midday shade from a nearby tree. I use it as an underplanting for my hosta 'Sagae' and I'm so glad I did because it looks SPECTACULAR. It's tall enough to fill in the legginess of Sagae, but short enough to fit underneath the hosta canopy (Sagae has an upright arching habit). |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| dominoswrath, can you post a picture of your Sagae and the lady's mantle? I grow both but not together and I'd like to see this combination. Perhaps my Sagae is not mature enough yet, but I'm having trouble picturing the AM under one. Do the flower stalks of the AM poke up through the hosta leaves? Dee |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| here's one of mine at the allotment (looking a bit ratty) - easy-going and I like the flowers in simple annual posies (ox-eye daisies and cornflowers and such). |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| Thanks all, I never see this plant in suburbia here at least. I think my original location may not work because it needs richer soil. Thanks for the info and pics |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| I want to share my experiences with lady's mantle. I have them everywhere in my garden. In full sun, it thrives. In full shade, it thrives. I'll divide more next spring. Can we divide them in fall though? |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| I don't think a less than perfect soil is a big problem. Here is a pic of one of my beds with it situated on the north side of a burning bush, so it gets a fair amount of shade there, but some of it has wandered to the west side along side a sedum and also crept far enough east to escape the shade. There are more sedums, cone flowers and cushion spurge in the east exposure. All are very happy. 
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RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| gazania - do you fertilize your Alchemilla mollis? I don't generally fertilize any of my perennials since they seem to perform well & as expected with no supplemental help from me. However, if mine could look as terrific as yours do, I'd be willing to feed them a bit of seaweed extract or fish emulsion if they'd perform as yours apparently do. Your plants are significantly larger/taller than my own. Thanks for sharing the photo. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| gardenweed, looks like her garden bed is high which makes the alchemilla look tall. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| I've never had to divide mine because it throws seedlings everywhere. I have mine in part sun, fairly moist soil. I think it's one of these plants where, if it likes the location, it will thrive and multiply. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| I don't do much fertilizing. I do mulch my beds renewing mulch about every 3rd year and scattering a general granular feeding very thinly hopefully every year in April. Didn't get done this year. The bed in the picture is slightly mounded, maybe about 6 inches above grade originally when put in 13 years ago. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| A bit of alchemilla trivia...They grow as wildflowers on the sandy moraines of glaciers in Iceland. They were small and all over the place. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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This post was edited by susanzone5 on Mon, Jun 17, 13 at 12:43
Alchemilla mollis
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| Neil, appreciate your reply but I also tend to mound & mulch my beds in a similar fashion to gazania. Most (but not all) of my beds are mounded prior to planting anything. Altho' all of my Alchemilla mollis plants have grown well for me, none are particularly as spectacular as those shown in the photo posted by gazania. I only wish my own plants presented so large & lush a show. It's merely an estimate but I'd say the plants in my beds are fully half the size shown in the photo above. Which of course begs the following questions: (1) how long have they been growing in that spot; and (2) if they receive no supplemental fertilizer, what sort of soil does he/she have? |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| If wonder if sandy soil is the key. I've had a small plant for 4 years I have been nursing. I moved it and it remains spindly and has not increased in size at all. Gets some sun but mostly shade. I try to keep it watered and I've added compost and miracid to its planting hole where we have clay, alkaline soil. Maybe sandy soil and lots and lots of water is the key. I hope mine takes off one of these days. The single flower on it is beautiful but sadly lonely. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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| Gardenweed, The Alchemilla mollis in my earlier pic was planted in 2006, so 1. It has had plenty of time to grow and 2. I have left a couple of it's seedlings grow on there. I have moved a few to other beds, as in the picture below. This bed sometimes lays very wet, especially in spring. This is it's 3rd summer. My soil is far from sandy...heavy clay would be closer to what was there originally. It was lightened up with compost, but I still consider it more clay than loam. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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- Posted by simcan z5b/Toronto (My Page) on
Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 16:46
| I have several in conditions ranging from sun to part-shade. Soil is definitely clay but with a few years of compost and mulch to lighten it somewhat. Great plant but it will seed about...the seedlings are very easily identifiable and quite cute and transplant easily. I tend not to like the flowers in some locations and in any location when they are looking ratty I cut them back to expose the inevitable flush of tidy growth underneath, which quickly fills out and looks attractive for the rest of the season. |
RE: Alchemilla mollis
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I, too, have them in sun, shade, part shade, etc. They thrive everywhere. In really dry summers the plants in full sun will get ratty, but cutting them back makes them grow back nicely.
I'm actually starting to consider them invasive...they have self-seeded all over the place. I've given lots away, and pulled others up and basically just plunked them in bare spots. |
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