Galium verum
lady's bedstraw
- Position: full sun or partial shade
- Soil: any but the poorest soil
- Rate of growth: average
- Flowering period: July and August
- Hardiness: fully hardy
Honey-scented, golden-yellow flowers and whorls of slender, dark-green leaves. Lady's bedstraw has a pleasant smell of new mown hay when dried which explains why it was once used as a mattress filler. Ideal for a sunny wildflower or perennial border, it's an important food-source for caterpillars of the 'broad-bordered bee hawk moth'. - Garden care: Do not use a fertiliser since wildflowers prefer poor soils. In autumn after flowering cut the faded flower- heads down to the ground and compost the dead stems