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Tall white Flower that stinks

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Posts

  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    You mean most people can't smell that Dove? 🤔 My pet hate is lily it is strong and overpowering to me.
  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    This plant can get very smelly especially in the latter part of the year. Grows wild where I come from. 
  • GrannybeeGrannybee Posts: 332
    Mmm - I know we are all different and see /smell things differently but this seems a bit strange. There isn't a Herb Robert wrapped round this plant is there? That smells stinky!  If it is that bad then it really has to go!
  • Rob LockwoodRob Lockwood Posts: 380
    I was on the other thread and found it a bit comical that some were saying stinky, some no smell!  Someone - may have been Dove - said they spent Spring/Summer regularly in a Cornwall ablaze with Centranthus/Valerian and had smelt nothing untoward.  I went in June (Falmouth & environs) and agree, but the stuff in my garden was awful.  A tiny bit more research suggested it could be the roots which smell, or that the smell would be stronger at certain times of day (presumably when the roots/stems/flowers heat up) but it's still a mystery.  I like the flower and the fact it's a useful spring-summer gap-filler, but was put off by the smell, so if we can work out how not to have it smelly, that would be great!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2018
    Rob Lockwood said:
    ...  Someone - may have been Dove - said they spent Spring/Summer regularly in a Cornwall ablaze with Centranthus/Valerian and had smelt nothing untoward.  ...
    Probably me  :D

    purplerallim     said:
    You mean most people can't smell that Dove?
    Don't know what the proportion is of those who can/can't smell it ... but some people can and some people can't and don't know what the fuss is about. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Grannybee said:
    Mmm - I know we are all different and see /smell things differently but this seems a bit strange. There isn't a Herb Robert wrapped round this plant is there? That smells stinky!  If it is that bad then it really has to go!
    And I really like the smell of Herb Robert oops

    Smell is very subjective ... remember that perfume called 'Poison'?   Apparently some people thought it was great ... I thought it was vomit-inducing sprout

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Poison smelt the same as Bob Martin's flea powder to me.
    When I first encountered it, I thought that the wearers had an infestation.
    Potter's Catarrh Pastilles -  puke-inducing smell
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Most of mine are pink, bit there's the occasional white one.
    There are still some in flower - no smell as far I can smell



    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • blameitonthedogblameitonthedog Posts: 122
    I grew Acidanthera three years for its "heady perfume that will fill your garden".   It has no detectable smell whatsoever to me.

    There is a company who make cat toys stuffed with valerian root...now those DO stink.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    As Dove says, it well be might be a genetic predisposition.
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