Odorous

Did some creature die in my yard? Last weekend when I was taking a midafternoon break on my patio, I caught that faint, fetid odor. It was there, then it wasn't. Friends who came over for a Friday cocktail didn't smell anything. Even Esme, the dog with the great nose, seemed unconcerned. She can normally track down a dead animal at thirty paces. Maybe I was delusional. No, I smelled it again.

It took me until midweek to think of looking up, and there was the culprit. The hawthorn tree, grown from a little twig. Until this year it had never bloomed. Oh dear, an "odorous" plant in my midst. Having read enough plant descriptions from nurseries over the years, I recognize that "odorous"is code for "stinky." So let us sing a song to the stinky plant. I have had many through the years.

Actaea racemosa, a lovely perennial, commonly known as bugbane or cohosh, has a wonderful perfume...sometimes. Unfortunately, I purchased the plant with green leaves, not the black colored one. Those beautiful little white pearl blossoms at the end of that snake-like spire....stinky. I still have three of the plants, but they are planted far away from the house, where they can be seen and not smelled.

Once I was given a flat of wooly creeping thyme, left over from a landscaping job. I planted it at the edge of the stone wall near the entrance to my house. Later I discovered that when it bloomed it gave off the odor of stinky feet! That would have been bad enough, but its bloom time paralleled that of my dwarf Korean lilac, one of the most sweet smelling of shrubs. The combination of sweet and stinky was sickening. Still, a gift is free, and when you need a plant, you need a plant. Fortunately after five years, the thyme bit the dust. It took another three years to erase the memory of that smell, when I could once again enjoy my lilac.

"Odorous" is in the nose of the smeller, I guess. Not long ago I had a client who told me, "Please don't plant any more lilacs. I already have one and I can hardly bear to be around it when it is blooming... so strong!" I promptly went through the proposed plant list and pulled all flowering shrubs noted for their fragrance. I have to admit that I have the same reaction to viburnum carlesii. Too close to the house and it is overwhelming. A little goes a long way.

A few days ago when I finally got around to weeding the north side of my house, I was caressed by the most wonderful fragrance floating in the air. Ah yes, the tree lilac is in bloom. For years I used to wander around my neighborhood looking for the source of that delightful smell. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was coming from a small tree at the edge of my property. A tree I didn't even know I had. If you need a little flowering tree, Syringa reticulata "Ivory Silk" is a nice choice. It is easy to find at most nurseries. The bark is attractive, the flowers beautiful, the shape just right, and some June, you will wander around asking where in that wonderful fragrance coming from? Nothing "odorous" here.

Tree lilac from my window