Hedge bedstraw

How to recognise it

Habit

Perennial of 30–100 cm, with sprawling to ascending stems or stems leaning on other plants; forms loose mats.

Leaf

In whorls of 6–8, narrowly lance-shaped, 1–2.5 cm, with a single vein and a tiny bristle tip; the edge feels slightly rough.

Flower

Large, loose sprays of white flowers of 2–3 mm with four pointed lobes, from June to September; faintly honey-scented.

Fruit/Seed

Small, hairless paired fruits of 1–1.5 mm, finely wrinkled and black when ripe.

Stem

Square, smooth and hairless or slightly hairy, a little swollen at the nodes; not sticky.

Look-alikes

Cleavers clings to your clothes with hooked bristles on its stems, leaves and fruits and has only a few flowers. Lady’s bedstraw has yellow flowers and very narrow, rolled leaves. Marsh bedstraw grows on wet ground and has blunt leaves in whorls of 4–6.

Flowering: June–September · Pruning: March and September

Why grow it?

• Food plant for hawk-moth caterpillars, such as the hummingbird hawk-moth and the elephant hawk-moth.
• Its honey-scented flowers attract hoverflies, small flies, little beetles and solitary bees.
• Flowers for a long time, from June to September, filling a flower meadow or wild border with an airy white haze.
• Tough and undemanding: it grows on dry to moist soil, in sun or partial shade.
• A typical plant of flowery verges and dykes, where it goes well with oxeye daisy, knapweed and wild carrot.

Hedge bedstraw: where does it grow best?

• In the wild in hay meadows, rough verges, on dykes, along hedges, woodland edges and railway banks.
• Sun to partial shade; it flowers most freely in full sun.
• Dry to moist, moderately rich soil: loam, clay or sand, ideally slightly chalky.
• In the garden it suits a flower meadow, a wild border or the foot of a hedge, where it can scramble up between other plants.

Goes well with

• Oxeye daisy: Large white flowers in the same flower meadow, for bees and hoverflies.
• Common knapweed: Purple heads for butterflies and bumblebees, on the same poor verge soil.
• Wild marjoram: A fragrant mint-family plant for dry, chalky soil, loved by butterflies.
• Wild carrot: White umbels that complete the airy look of a flowery verge.

Hedge bedstraw: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy plants from a native plant nursery or sow your own; never dig up plants from the wild.
2. Sow in September–November outdoors or in a tray left outside: the seed needs a cold spell and germinates in spring.
3. Scatter the seed on the surface and press it in; cover with at most a thin layer of sand.
4. Plant pot-grown plants in March–April or October, 40–50 cm apart or scattered through the grass of a flower meadow.
5. Water during dry spells for the first few weeks; after that it is no longer needed.

Care

Watering

Only in the first year during drought. After that it copes, even in dry summers.

Feeding

Not needed: on poor soil it stays more compact and the other flowers hold their own better.

Mowing

In a flower meadow, mow once or twice a year: in September and possibly at the end of June. Remove the cuttings.

Spreading

It spreads by creeping stems and can smother its neighbours. Pull or cut back over-long stems in July.

Letting it seed

In a meadow, let the sprays ripen before the September cut so that it can self-seed a little.

Tip: Grow hedge bedstraw between sturdy plants such as knapweed and oxeye daisy: it leans on them, does not flop and fills the gaps with a white cloud.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: March and September.

When: Mow or cut back in September after flowering, or leave the stems standing and clear them in March.

How:

• In a meadow: mow in September at 5–10 cm height and remove the cuttings.
• In a border: cut the stems back after flowering if they flop over other plants.
• Leave some stems standing over winter as shelter for insects and cut them down to just above the ground in March.
• Do not cut too low around new shoots: the plant regrows from the base in spring.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Sow outdoors in autumn; the seed germinates after winter, in March–April.

Division

In March or October, split a clump and replant the pieces with roots and shoots straight away.

Layering

Creeping stems often root at the nodes: cut off a rooted stem in spring and plant it elsewhere.

Hedge bedstraw: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −30 °C.

• The stems largely die back in winter; small green shoots remain at the base.
• Fully hardy, to −30 °C and below.
• Leave some of the dry stems: small insects overwinter in them and between the mats.

Diseases and pests

• Spreading: In a rich border it can smother its neighbours. Pull out creeping stems, cut back in July and do not feed.
• Flopping: The long stems fall over after rain. Let it grow between sturdier plants it can lean on.
• Galls: Small swellings or rolled leaf tips are caused by gall midges and gall mites. Harmless, leave them.
• Mistaken for cleavers: Young plants look like cleavers. Feel them: cleavers sticks, hedge bedstraw does not.

Through the year

• March: Cut back old stems. Plant and divide.
• April: New shoots. Planting is still possible.
• May: Growth. Hawk-moth caterpillars may already be on the plant.
• June: Start of flowering. Possibly a first cut at the end of June in a rich meadow.
• July: Full flower. Cut back over-long stems in the border.
• August: Flowering; the first fruits ripen.
• September: Last flowers. Mow the meadow and remove the cuttings. Sow.
• October: Plant, divide and sow.
• November: Leave some stems standing for insects.

Did you know?

• Dried bedstraws were once used to stuff straw mattresses, hence the English name ‘bedstraw’.
• As in madder, a relative, the roots of bedstraws contain a red dye that was once used for dyeing.
• Hedge bedstraw sometimes crosses with lady’s bedstraw. The hybrids have pale yellow flowers, between white and yellow.