This pretty perennial is a great ground cover for shade. In spring Sweet Woodruff is a bright green carpet which is topped with little stars of white flowers. These appear when my rhododendrons bloom, making a very colorful effect in a shady place. Sweet Woodruff is purported to have scented foliage, of fresh-mown hay, but I have not observed this. The plant darkens in the summer to a nice dark green.Sweet woodruff quickly spreads under shrubs and between larger perennials. I must contain it, otherwise it will spread into my lawn. It grows no taller than four inches.

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Sweet Woodruff
(Galium odoratum)