Sweet Woodruff
Galium odoratum
also called galium odoratum
A shade carpet that keeps going as long as the soil stays damp, and keeps going past the edge you had in mind.
- Type
- Flower · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green
- Flower color
- White
- Sunlight
- Shade to part shade; keep direct sun off it.
- Watering
- Evenly moist, and never waterlogged.
- Feeding
- It asks for no feeding.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- April
- Pruning
- Trim the edges back in summer, and clear the dead foliage in early spring.
- Overwintering
- Fully hardy, with no winter protection to think about.
- Mar–Apr Spring Growth
- Apr–Jul Flowering
- Jul–Nov Growing
- Nov–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Mar Leaf Fall
- Plant spacing
- 17.7 in
- In-row spacing
- 17.7 in
- Between rows
- 22 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Running rhizomes
- Working depth
- 4–12 in
- Can reach
- 18 in down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 3–6 ft across, about 2–4× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 12 in of soil
It travels underground, and it does not stop where you would like it to. Taking the tops off does nothing at all to the run, and every fragment left behind is a new plant. In open ground the only boundary that holds is a barrier sunk two spits deep, or a container with its rim standing clear of the soil.
The habit is Sweet Woodruff’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- Powdery mildew Powdery mildew where the air is humid and never moves
- Thin, patchy growth on dry soil, which is a call for steadier moisture
Green-leaved flowers, like this one.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com