Saflax - Lady's Mantle - Alchemilla vulgaris - 100 seeds - An important part of every medicinal herb garden. With germ-free and air-permeable coconut fiber substrate for successful cultivation. Worth knowing: The perennial Lady’s Mantle is an important plant for every medicinal herb garden. Already the old Germanic people appreciated the herb and dedicated it to Frigga, the goddess of nature and fertility. Its name points to the big, mantle-like leaves. From May until August, it produces a rich, but rather inconspicuous yellowish inflorescence. . Active agents: The aerial parts of the plant that are harvested during blossoming between May and August have pharmaceutical use. The Lady’s Mantle is rich in tannin and its foremost importance is due to the antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. It is, therefore, used with light gastro-intestinal and menstrual cycle problems. Most popular is the Lady’s Mantle tea, which is prepared with three teaspoonsful of dried herb dashed with a cup of boiling hot water. After about 10 minutes of simmering, the herb can be filtered out and the tea can be taken in, preferably three cups throughout a day, hot and in small gulps. The slightly bitter, but still pleasant taste of the fresh leaves make the Lady’s Mantle also suitable for a savoury wild herb salad or wild herb soup. Natural Place: The Alchemilla vulgaris is almost exclusively native in the Old World of the northern hemisphere and grows mainly in the mountains at the bank of a creek, on moist meadows, slopes and montane or alpine pastures. Cultivation: The Lady’s Mantle is a cold and light germinator. Outdoors you can start seeding already between October and January. Just spread and gently press the seeds onto potting compost in a bowl and place it somewhere sheltered, but also bright. Keep the earth moist, but avoid waterlogging. Ideally, you may cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out, but don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. In spring, the seedlings can be pricked out and planted about 20 cm apart from each other in the desired spot of the garden. For seed propagation indoors, however, you should initially keep the seeds in the refrigerator for a couple of days to increase the germinability. Place: The Lady’s Mantle prefers a full sunny place, but also grows in more shady areas. Care: The soil should be humus-rich and rather moist. If you don’t prune the plant back after blossoming, it will reproduce through self-seeding. Multiplication is also possible through cuttings of the root in spring. During blossoming you can harvest the leaves as well as the flowers, while the leaves can nicely be dried for your winter stock. In August you may cut the plant back strongly after blossoming. During Winter: The Lady’s Mantle is frost-hard. Bonsai: No Picture credits: Because of technical limitations links are shown as text. 25205-alchemilla-vulgaris-seed-package-front-german.jpg - © H. Zell - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 15205-alchemilla-vulgaris-cultivation-instruction-german.jpg - Frank Laue - © Saflax - saflax.de/copyright 15205-19-Alchemilla-vulgaris.jpg - H. Zell - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -