Sweet woodruff

* Common name: Sweet woodruff 

* Botanical name: Galium odoratum

* What it is: If you like the look of baby’s breath flowers and want a little fragrance in the late-April landscape, consider this creeping, little, 4-inch-tall groundcover. Sweet woodruff is nearly covered with mildly sweet, dainty-white flowers for about four weeks from late April into May. Leaves are tiny and light green all season before browning from frost each fall.

* Size: Mat-forming foliage is 2 to 3 inches tall with another inch from the spring flowers. Can root as it spreads, although not over-aggressively. Plant 2 feet apart.

* Where to use: Best used as a massed groundcover in a shady garden, ideally in slightly moist soil. Will grow in the dry shade under trees, although it usually goes brown in summer in that setting if it’s very hot and dry. Makes a nice mulch substitute under and around shrubs.

* Care: Fertilizer usually not needed. Rake off dead foliage and any fallen tree leaves at the end of winter to clear the way for new growth. Sections can be dug and transplanted (or tossed) after bloom or in early fall if plants are creeping beyond where you want. Soak weekly during a summer drought if leaves start to wilt and you don’t want plants to go dormant.

* Great partner: Blooms around the same time as dogwood trees, where it makes a color-coordinated underplanting. Also underplant around blue hydrangeas. Or poke hyacinth bulbs into a mass planting of sweet woodruff, where shoots will poke up and bloom just as sweet woodruff comes into flower.