Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum) is common round the village but can be seen best in greater numbers in the Nature Reserve. If the grass is left to grow on the slope in front of Greenwood House, it soon flowers through the grass, for as long as it is allowed to grow. It can also be found on the slopes around the village cricket ground. It has a sweet smell, especially when dry, and use to be collected in earlier times for stuffing hay mattresses and scattering on the floor to add fragrance to humble dwellings.
What a great name and it sounds like a happy plant to have around.
Thank you, Claudia.