Galium Odoratum Sweet Woodruff

Galium Odoratum is a vigorous deciduous perennial with tiny white flowers. It holds the RHS Perfect for Pollinators badge and best suits a shady border or beneath trees where it can enjoy a free root run.

Galium Odoratum is better known as Sweet Woodruff. It’s native to the UK, Ireland, most of Europe and into Africa and Asia. In the UK and Ireland, it was a staple medicinal herb for centuries used to treat lung, stomach, and urinary disorders.

Sweet Woodruff has lime green straplike foliage that grows in a spreading mat with clusters of snow-white tiny white flowers held on tall slender stems. It loves shade and will spread quickly in moist, shady conditions beneath trees and hedge lines.

When it’s dried Sweet Woodruff smells like hay hence its name Sweet Woodruff. It’s an excellent fast-spreading border filler, soil protector, and fills a difficult gap beneath tall plants that cast shade.

Height And Spread of Galium Odoratum
Low-growing Sweet Woodruff will reach half a metre by half a metre over 5-10 years.

How Hardy Is Galium Odoratum
It’s native to the UK and easily able to withstand our climate if its roots are well-drained.

How To Use Galium Odoratum
Sweet Woodruff is great beneath trees, covers up leggy roses, and creates ground cover in shady areas. It’s an all-round performer that’s best left to roam and spread in wildlife-friendly low maintenance shade gardens and country-cottage style spaces.
If you like natural air fresheners and pot pourii, dried sweet woodruff smells of meadows and is reputed to keep clothes moths at bay.
Sweet Woodruff is vigorous and spreads via its roots. It spreads quickly and can be difficult to remove once established. Consider using a rhizome blocker if you’d prefer to keep it in one spot.

How To Care For Galium Odoratum
Galium Odoratum is very easy to grow and requires no maintenance.
Plant it in a shady to partially shady spot in any type of well-drained soil, water it well until established, and leave it to its own devices to spread and cover soil.