I know this is the direct opposite of what is being asked but I remember one tree that, I kid you not, smells like sperm, and I’m not even talking subtle smell.
When I was living in Japan I used to ride my bike to work. At an specific time of the year the smell was pretty overwhelming for about half a block of that neighborhood. To make sure it wasn’t me I took my buddy there on a weekend ride, didn’t say a thing; his expression said it all.
I looked it up and it was the flowers of the Callery pear or Pyrus calleryana, an ornamental pear tree. I have no idea why on God’s green earth somebody would consider having one of those within smelling distance.
Yeah they are invasive in much of the U.S. and especially the mid-atlantic. We had two huge ones in our back yard when I lived there and I was going to cut them down if we hadn’t sold the place. Really unpleasant odor, almost like semen with rotten overtones. Trees are pretty enough I guess, but I couldn’t ever see planting one intentionally
Chestnuts also have an unpleasant odor similar to pears and persimmons. I kept smelling what I thought was a bradford pear, and could not find the culprit with my eyes. Then my nose led me to a big ol chestnut on my neighbors property.
My Flavor King Pluot smelled awesome this year… I don’t think that the individual blooms smelled any better than your average plum, but rather that the bloom density was just way higher… I could small it from across my little orchard.
Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out.
As for the odor of red cedar, I haven’t found any stage or usage (except the cedar apple rust galls) to be unpleasant. And they are definitely a native in KY…so typically natives aren’t referred to as invasives. They are male and female trees…the blue or black berries are bitter but edible if you ran out of normal food. High in vitamin C.
I shouldn’t generalize, @BlueBerry . Our Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana L) is actually native in Kansas, the only evergreen tree that is native here. We term it invasive because it has escaped its original habitat areas (due to fire suppression and other land management practices with European settlement) and infiltrated almost every plant community. If left unchecked, it will dominate in the tallgrass prairie and outcompete the native vegetation until there is no prairie left, just cedar trees.
There’s a thought. Some apple cultivars do smell nice in bloom. Is there a chart or list of the best ones? Any rankings by anyone for smell on apple trees?
Blue berry I saw this madonna crab apple had a gardenia smell.
I just found the name to one I like Stephanotis floribunda
Madagascar jasmine
I love my Katsura (cercidiphyllum Japonicum). It’s a handsome species thats leaves sporadically fill my garden with a toasted marshmallow scent, especially in the evenings. And the fall color is especially stunning.
I have a few wild blueberries, and some huckleberries that don’t get over a foot tall, but azaleas in the wild–I’ve not seen any in my part of Kentucky. Have rhododendron in river valleys some places, and mountain laurels on the hilltops.
I’d heard…but it wasn’t until I researched ‘edible landscaping plants’ about a dozen years ago that I proceeded to acquire and sample it. I consider it edible in about the same manner I consider Aronia/chokeberry edible.
