Galium odoratum

This is a charming groundcover plant for a shady place. It has pretty, rich-green whorls of leaves which are covered in starry clusters of white flowers in the spring. The plant is evergreen but its best to clear away the old coarse foliage in early spring when the new fresh-green buds are starting to shoot. The dried leaves have a lovely hay scent and the plant was once a strewing herb. Vita Sackville West, the late owner of Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, recommended drying the leaves and putting them into sachets, seemingly, the hay perfume can be retained for years. Roy Genders, the gardening author and broadcaster, notes that, in Georgian days, the leaves were put into the little cases that held pocket watches. Thus you got a whiff of hay when checking the hour. In Germany the plant is used as flavouring for a drink called May wine.