Rotting wood/ plant smell?

We moved to a new house a year ago, and have a beautiful side yard with patio and landscaping. However, it drives me crazy that there is often a strong smell that seems to me like rotting wood or plant material. It definitely seems like something "natural" rather than garbage or something like that. Yet the garden is well tended and there are no areas of underbrush or places where I can find that the smell would be coming from. There is a an 8 foot redwood fence around the yard, and I have wondered whether it could be from rotting wood, but the fence is in decent condition, and I have made sure our sprinklers don't get it wet (at least on our side of the fence). I've generally reduced the amount of irrigation thinking that dampness might be a problem, but it hasn't helped. The part that drives me nuts is I cannot localize it anywhere - the smell comes and goes and I can't find a source of it. It may be something in a neighbors' yard, which I wouldn't be able to do anything about -- EXCEPT perhaps to plant fragrant plants in the side yard to try to counteract it -- any ideas?? We also have small children so I would be trying to find plants that don't especially attract stinging insects, although I suppose that bees probably will go for anything fragrant. We had star jasmine in our previous house which I like, but my husband thinks its too invasive and goes everywhere...

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