For best fragrance, sweet woodruff leaves should be harvested right after the plants have bloomed. Cut the branches and tie them in bunches. Hang the bunches in a dark, cool, dry spot to dry.
How do you harvest Woodruff leaves?
For optimal fragrance, harvest the leaves of sweet woodruff right after the plant blooms. Harvested branches should be tied in bunches and hung to dry in a warm, dark room with low humidity.
How do you divide sweet woodruff?
To divide sweet woodruff, dig up a patch of it and pull off a clump. Use a sharp knife to cut through any roots that don't want to separate, forming a new root ball that is at least 3 or 4 inches in diameter. Keep the root ball of the plant damp until you can replant your new clump of sweet woodruff.
How do you get rid of Woodruff?
In moist soil, it can spread very quickly and can become invasive in the right conditions. It is often recommended that you plant sweet woodruff ground cover in an area that you would not mind seeing naturalized by sweet woodruff. You can also keep sweet woodruff under control by spade edging around the bed yearly.
How to grow sweet woodruff from seed?
Growing Sweet Woodruff: Tips at a Glance 1 Type Ground cover 2 Lifespan Perennial 3 USDA Zones 5-9 4 Light Shade 5 Water Damp soil 6 When to Plant Divide in fall 7 Design Tip Pair with silver 8 Companions Lady's mantle 9 Peak Season Late spring
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How do you dry sweet woodruff?
To dry the the sweet woodruff stems, place them between two layers of paper towels. Heat them at full power in a microwave for 30 seconds, then check the leaves and continue to heat them in 15-second increments until they're entirely dry.
What can I do with sweet woodruff?
The parts that grow above the ground are used to make medicine. People sometimes take sweet woodruff by mouth to prevent and treat lung, heart, stomach, liver, gallbladder, and urinary disorders, among many others. Some people apply sweet woodruff directly to the skin for wounds and hemorrhoids.
What parts of sweet woodruff are edible?
It's also edible: The leaves and flowers can be used in salad. Add in its fine-textured leaves, tiny white flowers and a vanilla-like scent, and this 6- to 12-inch plant earns its keep as a lush, hardy perennial ground cover. It needs to be used by itself, though, as it can overwhelm less aggressive plants.
Should you cut back sweet woodruff in the fall?
Foliage is attractive throughout the season. The foliage of Sweet Woodruff dies back to the ground in late autumn. The dried foliage is very fine and can simply be raked away in the late fall or early spring.
Is sweet woodruff toxic?
However, the usage of the plant for sweets was prohibited in Germany in 1974, due to coumarin, the flavorant found in woodruff, being toxic to rats and mice in studies. It has however not been found to be harmful to humans, even in large doses, in which it follows a different metabolic pathway.
Can you eat sweet woodruff?
Use as a food Sweet Woodruff should be dried for a day or two in order to intensify flavour - See Hazards. The leaves should then be removed from the stems. The dried leaves can be used to make syrups and jellies, or to infuse creams, alcohols, and vinegars.
Can you make tea from sweet woodruff?
The herb is also a popular German addition to bowles (spiked punch), jellies, sorbets, creams, and salads, and for those tea drinkers among you, sweet woodruff is said to make a great cup of tea. Steep one teaspoon of dried or fresh leaves in one cup of boiling water.
What does sweet woodruff tea taste like?
A wonderful tea can be brewed with both the leaves and flowers. The flavor is a cross between a subtle grassy flavor and vanilla, which intensifies when the leaves are dried. The dried woodruff leaves keep their scent for years. I like it in May Wine Punch.
Is sweet woodruff the same as cleavers?
Sweet Woodruff is also a useful herb but unlike Cleavers it contains substances which can be poisonous in very large doses. Sweet Woodruff is darker green and has sticky hairs on its seeds, but the leaves tend to be smooth. Sweet Woodruff is a perennial whereas Cleavers is an annual.
What is woodruff in cooking?
The leaves, which are harvested before the plant begins to flower, are used as an herb for cooking or in herbal medicines. The flavor is spicy and bitter and it is used with sweet dishes because the sugar improves the flavor and tones down the unpleasant aspects.
Can sweet woodruff be mowed?
When planted in a location that suits it, sweet woodruff can become aggressive. Because the plant's roots are shallow, it is fairly easy to yank out what you don't want. You can even mow it with the blades set high.
Will sweet woodruff grow back?
Sweet woodruff will die back and go dormant in hot, dry conditions, but it will grow back when cooler weather arrives.
Will sweet woodruff choke out weeds?
Sweet Woodruff Uses Sweet woodruff plants are primarily used as a flowering ground cover or edging for shady areas in a landscape. These perennials will spread out to form a low mat that, in conjunction with landscape mulch, will help to choke out weeds.
What is another name for sweet woodruff?
Sweet woodruff, Galium odorata. Galium odorata, a spreading perennial with charming early spring blooms and a delicate fragrance, is known by several common names including sweet woodruff, bedstraw, and others. It was formerly placed in the genus Asperula in the family Rubiaceae.
Do Bees like sweet woodruff?
In the spring, clusters of small white sweet woodruff flowers with a light fragrance are in bloom, attracting bees and butterflies.
Is sweet woodruff safe for dogs?
Plant perennials close together, and choose tough pet-friendly plants – for example, use ground covers like thyme, cotoneaster, sweet woodruff or periwinkle between larger woody plants.
Is sweet woodruff invasive?
Sweet woodruff spreads by runners. In moist soil, it can spread very quickly and can become invasive in the right conditions. It is often recommended that you plant sweet woodruff ground cover in an area that you would not mind seeing naturalized by sweet woodruff.
How quickly does sweet woodruff spread?
If it has ideal growing conditions, sweet woodruff can easily spread out as much as 18 inches in one year. Will sweet woodruff choke out other plants? This ground cover plant spreads quickly and if not kept controlled, will take over the area and choke out other plants.
Does sweet woodruff dieback in winter?
Sweet woodruff will die back and go dormant in hot, dry conditions, but it will grow back when cooler weather arrives.
What is Woodruff flavor?
Woodruff is an herb, also known as master of the woods (Waldmeister in German) or sweet woodruff. It has a sweet, hay-like, earthy aroma and taste, and the littlest bit helps to cut the acidity associated with the Berliner-weisse style.
What Is Sweet Woodruff
Sweet Woodruff is a low-growing flowering herbaceous perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. This plant thrives in Zones 4-8 in shady spots that have consistently moist soil. Sweet woodruff is moist commonly used as a shade garden groundcover in natural woodland gardens.
How to Grow Sweet Woodruff
Sweet Woodruff is most easily started from an existing plant, but can also be grown from seed (as long as you’re patient enough to wait for the seeds to germinate!).
How to Care for Sweet Woodruff
Sweet Woodruff is a low-maintenance perennial groundcover. With moist soil and a bit of shade, this is a happy plant. Care for sweet woodruff mainly entails keeping the soil consistently moist and ensuring the plant has some shade (particularly in the afternoon). A good organic mulch can be quite effective in keeping the soil moist during hot days.
How to Propagate Sweet Woodruff
Sweet Woodruff is most easily propagated by division or by planting runners off a mother plant. I have had great success by simply seperating off chunks from the edge of an existing plant and transplanting them out into the garden. Younger shoots from the side of the plant tend to establish faster than divisions from the centre crown area.
Companion Plants for Sweet Woodruff
The best companion plants for sweet woodruff are other woodland plants that thrive in moist soil and low-light areas. Here are some wonderful companion plants for Sweet Woodruff:
How to Grow Sweet Woodruff Herb
Sweet woodruff herb should be planted in a shady area. They like moist but well draining soil that is rich in organic material from things like decomposing leaves and branches, but will also grow in dry soils. They grow in USDA Zones 4-8.
Sweet Woodruff Propagation
Sweet woodruff is most often propagated by division. You can dig up clumps from an established patch and transplant them.
Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff blooms breach two seasons: spring and summer. Photo: Hajotthu, Wikimedia Commons
Money-Saving Tip
Each pot actually contains many plants you could separate and replant. Photo: littleprinceplants.com
Quick Care Guide
Sweet woodruff is a shade-loving, low-growing ground cover. Source: Leo Reynolds
All About Sweet Woodruff
Galium odoratum (common name: sweet woodruff) is a plant commonly used as a ground cover in the desolate parts of the yard where some plants can’t grow. Growing it underneath trees is common because the tree roots deter competition from growing, and the branches and leaves can hog all the sunlight.
Planting Sweet Woodruff
Planting sweet woodruff is fairly easy, and once planted, it’ll stick around in your garden for a while. You can easily find seed packets online, but your local garden center may have plant starts in early spring.
Care
Sweet woodruff is only picky about sunlight and water, so they’re pretty easy to care for as long as you remember to limit their sun and give them their water. If you live in an area where it frequently rains, growing them won’t require much effort.
Troubleshooting
Sweet woodruff is mostly easy to grow and has very few insect and disease problems. Here are a few of the issues you might come across and what to do about them.
Medicinal Uses For Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff has been used to treat disorders of the kidney and liver, uterine cramps and problems of menopause, nervousness, dropsy, varicose veins, poor digestion, and heart irregularities, and was added to other medicines to improve their flavor. The bruised leaves, which contain tannins, have been poulticed on cuts and wounds.
Other Uses For Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff is probably best known as an ingredient of German May wine (see recipe below), which is traditionally drunk on May Day both to welcome the season and as a spring tonic. Since the Middle Ages, however, sweet woodruff has been used to flavor wines, brandies, and other beverages, jellies, sorbets, and fruit salads.
Growing Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff is hardy in Zones 3 to 8 but struggles in the humid South. It prefers rich, loamy, well-drained, slightly acidic soil but tolerates both sandy and heavy, alkaline clay soils. Space new plants 12 inches apart in moderate to dense shade; full sun will scorch them.
May Wine
Steep sprigs of dried sweet woodruff and crushed strawberries (sweetened with sugar if tart) in white wine in the refrigerator overnight, then strain the wine and serve it in a punch bowl garnished with whole strawberries and fresh sweet woodruff sprigs.
Best Uses for Sweet Woodruff
Although it is grown primarily as a border plant or ground cover, sweet woodruff is technically a perennial herb rather than an ornamental. In the past, people used the herb to treat a variety of health ailments including lung, heart and liver problems. Unfortunately, modern examination of these health claims has failed to support them.
How to Grow Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff germinates well, but it needs a stratification period before planting. This simply means that you need to expose the seeds to cold temperatures before you sow them. It is also the reason you should plant your seeds outdoors before the last frost. This frost will stratify the seeds so you don't have to.
In What Zone Does Sweet Woodruff Grow Best?
Sweet woodruff thrives in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 through 9. In colder areas, sweet woodruff may not come back after its first year. In warmer ones, sweet woodruff will absolutely need shelter from the summer's midday heat and may go dormant or die if it gets too hot. Unfortunately, sweet woodruff doesn't grow well indoors.
When Should You Plant Sweet Woodruff?
Sweet woodruff seeds need a cold period in order to germinate properly. In most areas, you should plant your seeds in late winter or early fall. If you don't stratify your seeds yourself, it is crucial that you sow them before the last frost. The perfect planting time is after the ground thaws but before the season's final frost.
Soil, Sunlight and Water Recommendations for Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff is one of those magical plants that busy gardeners love because it seems to thrive on neglect. It prefers slightly acidic soil, for example, but it will tolerate anything from a pH level of 4.3 to 8.3.
How to Propagate Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff grows quickly once established, but it is a slow starter, and it can take 30 to 65 days to germinate. If you prefer not to wait, you can propagate sweet woodruff through cuttings or division.
How to Winterize Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff can generally hold its own well in zones 5 and above, but it may need some help during unusually cold winters. You can also give your plants some extra winter support if you're on the northern end of zone 5.
