Lady’s mantle gets its common name from the fine head of small, lacy flowers that it produces, resembling, to some extent, a lace mantle. The flowers are very tiny, as little as 3mm across, formed on branching clusters, called cymes, and carried in great profusion. The first flowers appear in early summer and the plants go on flowering through the summer. They are produced above the foliage, which is decorative too.

The foliage of alchemilla is made up of rounded leaves, 10cm and more across, lobed into about ten shallow, toothed lobes that impart a frilly appearance to the leaves.

The leaves overlap each other, building up layers of foliage from the central growing points that offer good ground cover, part of the plant’s natural competitive strategy.

All parts of the tough stems and leaves are covered with fine hairs that protect the leaves. This feature lends the foliage an attractive softness, the second part of the botanical name alchemilla mollis meaning “soft”. When rain or dew falls, water drops are formed and held by these hairs like glistening jewels, a lovely feature. The foliage is mostly evergreen, some of the oldest leaves turning brown in autumn and the newer leaves forming a neat bunch. The old, withered leaves form a collar around the plant.

The yellow-green colour of alchemilla is a fine foil for more colourful flowers, especially with hardy geraniums. It looks brilliant with the magenta, black-eyed geranium psilostemon and its relative ‘Patricia’, which is lower-growing. It also looks great with the popular blue-flowered geranium ‘Rozanne’ and others. It is often teamed with old roses, offering a perfect contrast for pink or purple roses, especially in conjunction with the soft blue of catmint.

It looks great with hostas, filling the ground until the hostas leaf up in spring, and it combines nicely with summer astilbes, as these also have frothy flower heads, but in shades of pink, red and white.

There are lots of possibilities for combinations with other flowers, such as the blue spires of delphiniums or aconitums, or the purple of knautia, and the foliage and flowers look well with ferns of all kinds. The flowers are good as cut flowers, used to lend an airy touch and contrasting colour.

The main species grown is alchemilla mollis from the Caucasus region, where it grows in rocky places, woodlands and mountain meadows. There is also a native Irish species that is smaller, but not used in gardens. The Alpine lady’s mantle, alchemilla alpina, is grown in gardens. This one has smaller leaves, often silvery, with hairs on the back, and has its leaves not just lobed, but divided fully to the base. The flower heads are smaller, rounded and more knotted, and it is not as decorative as the bigger plant.

Alchemilla likes humusy, moist soil, but can withstand severe drought too. It grows from a woody taproot, forming growing buds for leaves and flowers. This hard, stringy root makes alchemilla a difficult customer to remove if it is in the wrong place, especially in a crack in the paving. This often arises because alchemilla self-sows freely, spreading quite extensively if allowed.

Some self-sowing can be attractive as new plants pop up in unexpected places. Cutting away the flower heads before the seed is shed can be a wise precaution against too much spreading. This is usually done in August, or earlier if seeding is imminent, and the leaves can be cut away too. A nice bunch of fresh foliage will soon be produced. CL

Picking vegetables

As vegetables grow rapidly, it is a good policy to begin to pick them as soon as they are of usable size. Unlike a commercial grower, the home gardener is not trying to maximise yield, but is more concerned with quality and flavour. There is no better flavour than young vegetables, such as the first peas, fingerling carrots or baby French beans.

The rest of the crop will mature in due course, probably quicker than the vegetables can be used, so there is no loss by early picking, only an opportunity to quickly get the reward for your effort. When picking young vegetables, use them right away, as they quickly lose their freshness.

Flowers

Water bedding plants in pots and baskets and feed them regularly, even once a week, because the plants are now big and need more food to keep them growing and flowering. Because the roots have filled the pots, watering has become more critical. Sow seeds of perennial flowers.

Fruit, vegetables and herbs

Repeat sow the salad vegetables that mature quickly. Sow spring cabbage, especially in the northern half of the country. Weed control should be kept up to prevent weeds from going to seed and causing trouble in the years to come. Plant out Savoy cabbage and other winter kinds.

Lawn

Grass growth in lawns has been generally very good and consistent. Maintain mowing, only raising the level of the blades one notch if the weather is dry. If there is enough rain and growth is still poor and grass strawy, apply some lawn fertiliser to boost the growth of the grass into autumn.

Trees, shrubs and roses

If young trees are not showing new growth at the tips of the branches and have small leaves, they may be in trouble and should get 20 to 40 litres of water per plant. Early flowering shrub roses and ramblers that have now finished could be pruned by removing some of the shoots that flowered.

Greenhouse and house plants

Take cuttings of all kinds of shrubs now, using half-and-half peat/sand and covering with white polythene. Use rooting powder. Continue watering and feeding greenhouse plants. Be sure to water plants in pots as these can easily dry out. Train and side-shoot tomatoes and cucumbers.