Although it seeds around a bit more than I'd like, I really like lady's mantle. Beautiful foliage, love the chartreuse flowers in contrast and a real workhorse in the shade garden, especially when combined with ferns or lacy, airy foliage plants. The way the foliage cups and holds water from rain or irrigation is just a bonus!!

Beautiful! The flowers make nice, long lasting cuts.

I picked up a couple last year, my first experience with them. Initially when I planted them I thought they were kind of blah, but they're growing on me, they're a nice subtle foil for other showier plants.

K&D, are you concerned about the pachysandra taking over the lady's mantle? The pachysandra I have seems to engulf everything in its growth path...I have been considering removing all of of since the area is getting quite large and I don't want to have to do annual maintenance keeping it under control. Maybe a barrier would be a solution too but that means a lot of digging into clay soil around trees too.

@thrills. not too concerned as it is meant to be a subtle mix. The photo you see, taken last week, is after 7 years of coalescing together and the Lady's Mantle is holding its own nicely. I call it "happy congestion". :)

I was going to say (but John beat me to it :-)) that pachysandra is one of the least aggressive groundcovers I could name. I find it can coexist well with just about anything. If anything, I'd rate the lady's mantle as the more heavy hitter of the two. The seeds seem to be able to get into any nook and cranny and voila - a new plant!!

Thanks both for the feedback. We are working on putting in a path through a shady area and theres currently a mix of pachysandra, sweet woodruff and Canadian ginger. i was worried it would just take over but your comments give me hope. Here’s a pic of the current patch. The pachysandra and sweet woodruff reached the ginger last year and I’m kind of waiting to see if anyone of them take over.

I tried to post photo twice but I don’t see it. Is it slow to update or glitchy?

@thrills. try again if you get a chance with the photo. Would like to see how that trio of ground covers is getting along together. Here in Chicago the most delicate of the group would be sweet woodruff. In your neck of the woods the balance of strength might be different.

But back to @Gardengal's comment, "pachysandra is one of the least aggressive groundcovers I could name." Her experience would also be my experience. It mixes successfully with Hosta, Astilbe, Polygonatum, Aruncus as well as a much longer list of shade plants including Alchemilla. Good luck with your garden path!

I'm not a big yellow-in-the-garden fan--except for Lady's Mantle. I like the very gentle spray of yellow flowers.

K&D, I love Ladies Mantle and am grateful that old specimens here have seeded to the point that I have plenty to play with. Your photos are beautiful!

thank you @deanna . Glad you liked the photos and are a Lady's Mantle fan too!

I've been recently gifted 3 pots of fresh dug Lady's Mantle, but don't know really, what the best siting would be for them. My whole property runs on the dry side, with lots of mature trees around. Wondering how much sun/shade, and moisture it would prefer?

Steve, ours grow well in part to mostly shade and at the end of a downspout, so leaning toward the moist side. But they seem to do fine in that spot even during the dog days of summer without much moisture. Missouri Botanical has them listed as full sun to part shade--with the proviso to keep them out of hot afternoon sun in warmer climates--and medium moisture:

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=286570&isprofile=0&

In PA zone 6a, I'd recommend anything from morning sun only to nearly full shade and just keep an eye on them for any needed supplemental watering, especially until you get them established.

Thanks ckerr, hopefully this will be a good year to get them established, if the precip keeps up as it's been doing.

Steve also wanted to chime in about my experience. I have LM in deep shade and full sun, various types of soils.

It seems that once they are established they just done care about much except heat. In my climate, which is certainly mild, they can get multiple hours of sun and do fine. But, if we have a hotter year where days are in the upper 80s and above, then they certainly do scorch. If you get multiple hot days in a row where you are, any LM in sun would benefit from afternoon shade. If I was in a hot and humid climate, they'd absolutely be put in an area favoring shade.

Three years ago I divided and transplanted some LM. The ones in 6+ hours of sun are in lovely soil that was tilled, amended with compost and peat moss, and is still light and lovely to this day. Just makes my heart happy. I divided LM into multiple small divisions, made sure they got deep waterings as established, good mulch to hold moisture, and they are huge. They took a huge leap in size the next year, and by year three are fantastic. But, if the day gets hot (over 90) they sag and just lose their "silvery glow" and beauty. We can go all summer with maybe one day over 90, so generally not a problem here. This summer is looking to be a hot one. Curious to see how they'll do.

The LM planted in deep shade with soil that has its own leaf mold from the canopy is still pretty small. In year three they are doing fine, but have not filled in their space yet. They look like a normal LM, but seem to be just growing more slowly.

None of the plants got extra water after the first year of establishment, either, by the way. Last summer we were very very dry. It was their second year, and they did well. I'm sure the peat moss in the soil helped hold some moisture for them last summer.

So, my experience: Ideal condition is part sun. Start them out with good quality soil and amendments, keep them watered as they establish. Then just let them be!

One more note on established LM: When we purchased the house there were many trees dangerously close to the house which were removed. An existing shade/part sun planting bed now gets mostly sun, and the plants suffered. The LM in that bed, however, are barely fazed. Get them established, and they are very adaptable. Seedlings popping up occasionally are an added bonus.

Thanks deanna, gives me a good grasp on what I need to do with them.