Today I was looking out my window with all my indoor potted plants and noticed a very sweet coconut smell. It came from a young Capoll Curt Negra fig that is still living inside. Some people like the smell of fig trees and some think it smells like cat pee. I don’t have cats so I cannot relate to the latter… Most of my figs have that fig leaf smell when I get near them, but this one in particular was very noticeably pleasant.
Some other nice ones this year were my Satsuma plum, and my clove currants. Those are a real pleasure to sit near on a sunny day. Last year, my Intrepid peaches were emitting a very strong peach smell as they ripened on the tree. There will hopefully more peaches this year. I can only imagine standing in the middle of the branches and taking a big whiff in. What other aromatic trees is everyone else growing?
I have a Prunus mume that is the first tree to flower in my yard in Jan/Feb and has a spicy sweet smell that I really like. I also enjoy my goumi blossoms in the spring.
I’ve noticed the fig leaf cat pee smell (the Hardy Chicago types and Dr. Gowaty are some of the worst in my experience) and others have the much more pleasant coconut smell. Maybe only some people can smell the cat pee!
It’s not good, or all that bad, but my sour cherry has the most distinct scent of all the present fruit trees. Even without leaves or flowers, it still has a very distinct scent.
The strongest on the plant itself is black currant. Even moving then when dormant leaves me smelling like I’ve sprayed on some Ribena
My clove currants bloomed a little bit last year, but many more blossoms this year. I keep smelling them whenever I walk past, and I cannot discern any fragrance at all. I really expected something pleasant, but nada.
Our English laurel hedge has a lovely aroma. Prunus angustifolia has the best aroma of all my plums, and the new leaves smell like candy. New peach foliage also smells sweet. Many pines also smell good.
In the Hakkoda mountains of Northern Japan in the spring there are these mountain pines (or maybe cypress, I’m not sure) with the most fragrant pine smell in the world. It is perfume, sandalwood and a lot more delicate than any other pine tree I have smelled.
Unfortunately I would get to smell them when I would smack one while playing fast and loosing on my snowboard. It was around the time of the year they were still packed with snow so there was plenty of cushion to keep the concussion to a minimum, but I would lie there, catching my senses, and smelling one of the most delightful smells in the world.
@KSprairie Are your clove currant flowers yellow, elongated, and tubular? I made sure to go out after reading your report to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. Mine definitely have a sweet, spicy smell. Perhaps only some people are able to detect the aroma from them?
@ncdabbler I totally forgot about my jujubes. My Li and Honey Jar are quite aromatic, but I don’t remember grape soda. I’ll have to remember to take a good whiff in a month or 2. I just don’t get to enjoy them much because they bloom during peak mosquito season. The DEET all over my clothes masks their smell. Goumi definitely smells nice from what I remember. I went out to smell mine today, but they might be too far along and did not have a noticeable fragrance. I’ll also have to pay closer attention to my individual figs this year. Most are near other varieties so it might be harder to assign specific smells to certain trees.
@nil You had me going out and smelling my peach leaves. I couldn’t pick up anything, but I might not be sniffing them at the right stage of growth.
@Chonas How could I forget about citrus. My mandarin blossoms smell so sweet. My Makrut always reminds me of Thai curry when I brush against its leaves, but one of my friends likened it to cleaning fluid when she smelled it. I can see the point, but I don’t like to dwell on such unappetizing thoughts. My Osmanthus fragrans ‘Fodingzhu’ has been blooming since last fall. The smell is like citrus blossoms, but it’s a nonstop show for over half the year. If only it was hardy enough to plant outside in my climate so I can have a huge bush of it.
I grow night blooming jasmine. The worlds most fragrant plant. You can smell it for hundreds of feet. Never let it bloom inside. The smell will overwhelm your whole house. I like it as it reminds of my time in Jamaica. I bring it in, in the winter. It only has fragrance at night. Nothing during the day.
@Drew51 Your jasmine reminds me of orange jasmine ( Murraya paniculata). I once stayed at a resort on Phu Quoc island that planted them as hedges. They smelled amazing when I’d walk around at night even though only a few handfuls of individual flowers were blooming. I promptly acquired one but accidentally killed it.
@KSprairie Thank you for reminding me of elderberries! I infused some flower heads last year into syrup for desserts. The smell was heavenly.
Mine are Ribes odoratum, a quick check says that is the same as your Crandall’s currant. They look the same.
Hmmmm… There aren’t a lot of flowers on mine, so maybe the scent is not so great unless there is more profusion of flowers. I will keep hoping for that clove smell when I get more blooms.
@PharmerDrewee , it’s not an overpowering smell like jasmine or gardenias, but when the pollinators are all over my jujubes, I can smell what reminds me of grape soda. I certainly can see how DEET would mask it completely, though! My goumi blooms are long gone now too, but there’s still a lot of its cousin autumn olive blooming in the woods around my house right now. They smell very similar and are very pleasant. My kaki persimmons, on the other hand, don’t smell that nice.
Goumi definitely smells nice from what I remember. I went out to smell mine today, but they might be too far along and did not have a noticeable fragrance. I’ll also have to pay closer attention to my individual figs this year. Most are near other varieties so it might be harder to assign specific smells to certain trees.