The Low-Maintenance Ground Cover That Offers Natural Erosion Control

If you have a slope or two in your yard, no doubt you're worried about your precious topsoil washing or blowing away, ending up in storm water drains or clogging up natural waterways near your home. One of the best ways to prevent your soil from eroding is to plant a ground cover that has strong roots to keep it in place. To that end, there's a gorgeous low-maintenance ground cover that offers the advantages of natural erosion control, known as sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum).

Sweet woodruff is an herbaceous perennial with sweetly scented foliage and charming white star-shaped flowers that cover the plant in spring. Once planted, it will spread along the ground via rhizomes to cleverly hold your soil in place. Apart from its usefulness in preventing erosion, it's also quite an attractive plant, with interesting lance-shaped leaflets arranged in a whorl. The sweet vanilla scent is quite pleasant, and the dried flowers and leaves are great for potpourri as their fragrance intensifies upon drying.

This ground cover will grow in USDA hardiness 4 through 9 and is ideal for mass planting across sloping areas of your yard, whether in partial or deep shade. You'll even find that this sweet-sounding flowering ground cover will thrive under shady trees. While there are quite a few ground cover plants that love shade, not all bloom as prolifically as sweet woodruff under such conditions. 

This ground cover likes to be planted in moist soil and especially benefits from a little extra moisture during long periods of dry weather. That said, it can handle drier conditions as long as there's shade. If the growing medium is too rich, you might find that sweet woodruff can get a bit too vigorous in its growth. For mass planting to ensure good coverage, consider spacing individual plants about 1 foot apart.

While this lovely ground cover requires little maintenance except for the occasional watering in summer, you can freshen it up and stimulate new growth by cutting it back with a rotary mower — just set the blades to a high setting. This pretty spreading plant is also one of several beautiful ground cover plants that deer won't touch in your yard. Once you have it growing in the garden, you can easily propagate sweet woodruff, if you need to, by division. It's not difficult to dig up small clumps and plant them elsewhere in the garden.