Alchemilla mollis is a charming little plant that deserves to be seen a lot more in our gardens. Its common name is ‘Lady’s mantle’ and you can see why with its lovely lime green fan shaped leaves.

Low sized, it produces an abundance of frothy lemon/yellow coloured flower stems throughout much of June, July and August. Its size and shape make it an ideal plant for a raised bed, or walkway or even on top of a stone wall. The leaves are unusual in that when it rains the rain drops form like diamonds on them. They literally sparkle.

Lady’s mantle likes to grow in well-drained soil and it will do well in partial and full sun. If you buy just one plant then I guarantee you will never have to buy another one again. If it has one fault, it’s that it self-seeds like mad. This is especially so if it’s let near gravel as shown in the photograph.

To avoid this happening take your secateurs to the flower stems just before they go over. And that’s anytime from now on. Cut it back hard, removing old leaves as well as flower stems. If the weather is anyway good it should produce a second flush of flowers in a few weeks’ time.

It suffers from no real diseases and has no pests to annoy it. If grown in gravel it is drought tolerant. No wonder it has an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).