check your elaeagnus. the tiny flowers often go unnoticed....visually.

Hayes, If it is an elaegnus, it must be planted in someones elses yard. The only one I have smells like an old mans vitalis hair oil. I had it move mine to back of the property because it smelled like my daddy's hair. Yuk!

Osmanthus bloom at this time of year. I don't know (but doubt) if Osmanthus fragrans is hardy in your area, but there are others that are wonderfully fragrant, as well. That would be my guess, since this topic has come up several times (not necessarily in the GardenWeb) in recent days.

Rhizo, I have one of those too. Love the bush hate the smell, too sweet. I know it isn't a banana bush with a last hurray bloom, they smell like fingernail polish remover. This is more of a clove scent. I am sure it isn't coming from my yard, I only smell it when there is a breeze. I may never know what it is but it is a wonderful smell, whatever it is.

Something is definitely fragrant up in northeast Alabama. I tend to notice odors and fragrances when I ride my motorcycle. It's amazing at how much more you can smell than when you ride in a car.

I am pretty sure that the Osmanthus you folks are speaking about is the Tea Olive?? If so, that is what is smelling in my neighborhood. We have one in our back yard, that has people walking by, stopping in to ask what smells so wonderful. The bloom is SMALL, but BIG on smell.

FernAly, you have a messed up nose! LOL! You've mentioned some of the best smells but say you hate them. I think that banana shrub smells like banana popcicles. To me, the Tea Olive smells orange blossomy with a hint of vanilla.

I'll have to ask my husband about what you might be smelling. He's got a real 'nose' for those things!

Our neighbor's tea olive smells WONDERFUL right now. Even my h noticed the smell, it drifts on the wind all over the place. My h normally doesn't care one way or the other about plants but he really wants some cuttings from that bush, lol.

Rhizo, you are so right. I do have a messed up nose. I have really bad allergies to smell. I get severe headaches and get sick to my stomach when around cleaners, cologne, smoke of any kind. And of course I have at least one of everything you can imagine, with a strong smell, planted in my yard. But good news, I am going to a specialist in B'Ham and hopefully he can fix me. Actually I am already much better. That just may be why I smell something so good.

The banana shrub still smells like fingernail polish remover.

There are tea olives blooming at my daughter's daycare center in Eclectic, Al. and they smell heavenly. You step out of the car, and smell them immediately. I love them. Guess I better get over there next spring and snip a few cuttings! :)
Jan

I am inclined to believe that Hayes is right. There is a huge clump of elaeagnus across the highway. I drove around in that area and the smell was much stronger.

Those plant fragrances play tricks on us. I'll bet you hate the smell of Elaeagnus close up but like it from a distance! Might be the same with a lot of things. Plus, we all pick up those aromas differently.

I can't tolerate the aroma from Confederate Jasmine unless its about a mile away, though so many people seem to love it! The smell of Ligustrum sends me straight through the roof.

I can't stand the smell of either of those, but my all time most hated smell, in the plant kingdom, lol, is the chestnut tree. The small absolutely puts me to my knees.

I've noticed the sweet smell for several weeks on Brooklane Dr. here in Hueytown. I has an almost grape odor, like blooming kudzu. Also, my whole yard has smelled like brugs for about 3 weeks.

My Tea Olive smell like peaches, but it is not blooming now. It is in a very protected place and when it gets REALLY cold I put a blanket over it. I swore I smelled gardenias the other day, but couldn't find any..wrong time of the year anyway...too early for honeysuckle. Hmmm?

funny you mentioned that. gardenias are still blooming here or were yesterday before the cold blast. i also saw crape myrtles with flowers on them earlier this week.
elaeagnus scent reminds me of baby powder and is similar to nicotiana or moonflower fragrance according to my nose. ;-)

Baby powder! That's perfect for Elaeagnus!! I really love the smell....also has a 'slight bouquet' of honey.

Something to remember at this time of year, that we never think about is the smell that certain leaves give off as they have fallen to the ground. Sassafras, for example, is very fragrant this time of year, don't you think? And sugar maples!!

Okay, this is driving me 'NUTS'. The smell is now gone but I have to know what it was. If Sweet olive smells like peaches and Russian Olive smells like baby baby powder, what smells like Clove?

My guess is thorny elaeagnus (E. pungens). The autumn fragrance produced from the inconspicuous flowers is the only good thing about this plant, other than its ability to stop runaway 18-wheelers when grown as a hedge in highway medians.

Just took a walk thru the back garden and what a wonderful smell back there. Discovered it is coming from our LoQuat Tree. This is the second year it has bloomed, but last year it had so few blooms that it didn't perfume the air. It's wonderful. BUT in the front garden we had to do "Nose Patrol" to track down one of those mushroom thingies that start out looking like a white golf ball, and open up into a orange colored cage looking thing. Now that is a smell we can do without.

Ah, wannab, you're talking about one of the stinkhorn mushrooms, probably the Latticed Stinkhorn in particular. Smells like a long dead animal, to me. Ick!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:368901}}

Hi Rhizo,
That is the culprit. We pulled it out, put it in a plastic zip lock bag, and threw it in the trash can. Would you believe the smell even permeated through the plastic bag. Yuck

I walked outside and was bombarded by the smell of sweet honey in the air. It was like someone ripped open a fresh behive or something. I've never experienced anything like it! Would or could this be the 'Thorny Elaeagnus' or the 'Tea Olive' comming into bloom that some of you were mentioning? I'd really like to know! Thank you!

My Jasmine vine is going nuts and smells really spicy and nice. Maybe that it it.

joce, as I said in the other post....when a person thinks of honey, then the plants in question are likely one of the witchhazels or a fothergilla (related). They are famously honey scented, strongly so.