Alchemilla epipsila

The Alchemilla epipsila is a lesser-known cousin of the Alchemilla mollis, a beautiful garden plant often nicknamed "Our Lady's Mantle". It forms more compact leafy clumps and is even more robust, especially in relatively dry or rocky soil, and sometimes flowers until late summer. Its beautiful round, lobed, and pleated leaves have the same water-repellent power that makes them so beautiful in the morning dew. They are sheltered in the height of summer under a haze of small anise-yellow flowers. Like all alchemillas, this little, truly easy ground cover perennial has the gift of enhancing all its neighbours!

The Alchemilla epipsila is a herbaceous and rhizomatous perennial plant of the rose family, native to central Europe, especially the mountains of the Caucasus and the Balkans. It forms a tapetum mat of 30 cm (12in) in height that expands over time through its rhizomes. Its foliage is remarkable, dotted with dewdrops in the morning and soft to the touch. Its leaves, smaller and less hairy than those of the Alchemilla mollis, are almost circular and marked by veins radiating from the petiole. Their edge, more or less pleated, is cut into small sawtooth notches. They have a light green-blue colour on both sides. They are divided into 7 to 12 shallow lobes and are inserted on more or less hairy stems. The flowers appear from June-July to October. They are tiny and gathered in diffuse corymbiform cymes (cloud-like clusters), yellowish-green in colour, light and very bright. This perennial is a robust ground cover that spreads slowly but seems less inclined than other lady's mantles to self-seed. The plant is usually completely deciduous in winter.

In nature, Alchemilla epipsila grows in rocky soil in the mountains, in high-altitude meadows, and on the edge of forests. It seems easy to find a place for it in the garden, as it is robust, adaptable, and easy to combine with all kinds of shrubs or perennial plants. It will cover the ground in the sun or partial shade, harmonising its chartreuse flowering with beautiful English or old roses, as well as with the majestic lilies. This plant has no rival for softening the appearance of a recently paved path and hiding bare soil around new constructions. It accepts growing in little soil, as long as it is not too arid, which allows it to be installed in the joints of paving, the crevices of walls as in Roman ruins, or in the steps of a staircase. The Alchemilla is also perfect with spring-flowering bulbs or autumn crocuses. Its anise-green flowers are used in fresh or dried bouquets.