It grows here under trees, some areas get very dry, others stay moist. I also have some growing at the foot of a barn wall where it is incredibly dry and sunny -- here it hasn't spread much but grows okay, against the written odds. Maybe it is the ivy's roots that prevent the finer roots of your woodruff from getting a hold? Perhaps try clearing a patch of ivy and giving the woodruff space to get established.
I put some under my thuja plicata hedge and it’s spreading slowly.
In a previous garden I used to cut some after it had flowered and place it in an outbuilding, on the floor just under the swallows' nest. It is a 'strewing herb'. The droppings would then be gathered up with the woodruff when the young swallows had left, leaving a clean floor. The scent from the drying woodruff was very noticeable in that situation, but also here in this garden, under the trees. I haven't noticed a scent from the patch growing at the foot of the barn wall though.
I think there are certain smells that some people can't detect. I have a pretty good sense of smell but I can barely detect the smell of wallflowers whereas some philadelphus smell of sump oil to me.
Having never thought about smelling the woodruff when yanking it out to stop it taking over, I rushed out into the garden and the leaves have a lovely fresh scent, reminiscent of freshly cut grass. The flowers are sweet-smelling and vanillary. Perhaps I should do this more though I would probably sneeze a lot.
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The scent from the drying woodruff was very noticeable in that situation, but also here in this garden, under the trees. I haven't noticed a scent from the patch growing at the foot of the barn wall though.
Other people like it....