Hi guys,

I finally had the time and space for dividing my lady’s mantle plants. Up until now they were growing below our pear tree, pissing grumpy off, because they were looking random and weedy. But not anymore! No plant is going to piss off my grumpy! only I can do that! And the cat…

Dividing lady’s mantle – steps to successful propagation

The process of division is a simple one. It should be done in late summer, early fall. If you have a few days of rain forecast, even better. The steps are simple, and you might be tempted to skip the first one, but please, don’t. It is crucial for your plants’ wellbeing. Also you need to be sure that in next couple of weeks won’t be any frost. SoI would transplant or divide my plants at least 4 weeks before first frost. This should give them enough time to get going before they dieback in winter.

1st Step – clean up

First thing you should do is cleanup your plants. Cut off all of the spent blooms and old tattered leaves. After blooming the plants have already started to put out the leaves. And the new leaves are hidden beneath the old ones. Removing the old leaves encourages the plant to produce more new ones, and limits the amount of water that the plant is loosing through the leaves. The plants also look a bit bushel in the late summer, and you can’t really see the real site of the plant. This is also solved by the removal of the old leaves. Win-win.

2nd Step – take out the plant

Take a shovel and dig out the entire plant. Don’t try to divide it while still in the ground. These plants are easy to dig with all of the roots, no need to omit it. Just don’t remove the soil from the roots.

3rd Step – cut the plant into pieces

The best tool to use for this is shovel. Sometimes it can be a bit tough to cut int them and the shovel gives you the needed leverage. There are no real rules when it comes to cutting them. You can just half them straight through the middle. But I search for the branches or areas that look a bit away from the main plant and I cut off those first. Then if I think that the plant is still big, I will half it.

4th Step – plant the plant

If you already know where your plant is going, simple take it to its location and plant it at the same depth it was before. You can also plant the part of the plant on the same location it was before, and the rest you can plant out somewhere else, or into pot. Just don’t keep it out of the soil for too long.

5th Step – water the plants

Last but not least / water the newly transplanted plants. Super important, and I sometimes forget it. In order for the plants to quickly establish, it’s best to keep them moist for the next couple of weeks. And you should have a ton of new plants 🙂 .

Here is a little video that will illustrate the steps I take when dividing my lady’s mantle plants.

Conclusion

Propagation of any plant is always rewarding. Whether you propagate it using seeds or division, the number of plants you get for a little effort is great. The plants that I have propagated this year are enough to finish up a big border that runs around one of our circular lawns. And instead of paying a huge amount of money, I will arm myself with a bit f patience and slowly fill the rest of the borders with my favourite plants. 🙂 Alchemilla mollis or Lady’s mantle is one of the easiest plants to divide and propagate I have in my garden. And in couple f years, when the newly divided plants are big enough, I will probably divide them some more. Maybe even give some of them to mz family and friends to live on in their garden. Propagate & share – make memories. 🙂