beautiful plants known for their scalloped, bright green leaves (which catch any passing raindrops) and their frothy tiny green or yellow-green flowers. A tolerant genus, useful in many garden situations.

Alchemilla alpina comes from European mountains, from the far north south to the Alps and Pyrenees, but despite its wide distribution it is rarely grown. It makes tidy clumps of leaves, each divided almost to the base into about seven leaflets, and has masses of small flowers.