Galium odoratum
Sweet Woodruff
At a glance
- Light
- Shade
- Spacing
- 20 cm, rows 25 cm
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Sowing
- Aug–Sep
- Harvest
- Apr–Jun
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −20 °C
- Water need
- Medium
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: Björn Traeger · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Sweet woodruff emits its characteristic sweet coumarin aroma only when it wilts, giving May wine and syrup their distinctive scent. As a native forest floor plant, it forms dense, attractive carpets under shrubs and trees in shaded areas.
Care instructions
Plant sweet woodruff in partial shade or shade under shrubs and trees in humus-rich, calcareous soil and keep it evenly moist. Harvest the shoots best just before flowering in May and allow them to wilt slightly before use. Use sparingly, as larger amounts of coumarin can be unpleasant.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingAug–Sep
HarvestApr–Jun
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 3 °C, ideally 10 °C
- Days to sprout
- 30 to 120 days
- Light
- Needs darkness to sprout
- Sowing depth
- 0.5 cm
- How to start
- Sow straight into the bed
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, loamy, moist, nutrient-rich, lime-loving
Sweet woodruff likes loose, humus-rich soil that stays evenly fresh to slightly moist, like the soil under deciduous trees. It tolerates neither waterlogging nor prolonged drought; base-rich soils that are not too acidic are ideal.
Feeding
Light feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
In spring, before it shoots, work in a thin layer of mature compost shallowly; that is enough for the whole season. In autumn, leave some leaves lying or spread some on top, which rot over winter and feed it naturally. It needs nothing more: sweet woodruff is undemanding and reacts to too much fertiliser with growth problems.
Overwintering
Sweet woodruff is a fully hardy native woodland perennial. You do not need to do anything: the rootstock overwinters without problems in the soil and shoots again in spring. Leave old leaves lying over winter, as they give the rhizomes extra protection, and if necessary cut the plant back close to the ground only in early spring.
Propagation
Methods
- Division
- From seed
- Cuttings
Sweet woodruff is easiest to propagate by division: carefully lift an established clump out of the ground in spring (March/April) or autumn (September/October) and separate the rhizome with a sharp spade into several pieces. Each piece needs at least a few shoots and enough roots. Plant the pieces straight away in a partly shaded to shaded, humus-rich spot and keep them evenly moist for the first few weeks; they establish quickly and soon form new carpets. Water the mother plant the day before, and the roots will separate more easily and gently.
For sowing, it is best to sow the seeds directly outdoors in autumn: sweet woodruff is a cold-stratification seed and needs a natural period of frost to break dormancy. Cover the seeds only thinly; buried deep, they germinate less well. If you want to sow in spring, stratify the seeds beforehand for at least four to six weeks in the cool on moist sand. Expect uneven germination; the young plants grow slowly at first.
Cuttings are possible but more laborious: in late spring or early summer, cut young, non-flowering shoot tips, remove the lower leaves and insert the cuttings into moist, low-nutrient substrate in a bright spot, but not in full sun. Keep the substrate constantly moist and protect the cuttings from direct sun until they have rooted.
For your garden
Grow Sweet Woodruff yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
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