I have grown a lot of them over the years. I would describe the smell as odd. Not real good, but not bad either. The blooms are small, white, and numerous. So are the seeds, but they're brown. With shoes on, no problem walking on them. I usually have a lot of seedlings pop up under the tree.

The tree pictured below has been pruned to enhance the gnarlyness (sp?)of the trunk. It's right outside my backdoor. Picture was taken last Fall. Not much for Fall color, but at least it's not a bad looking brown like some trees.
Mike

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Wow Mike that is a beautiful area you have there. Thanks for the pic.

The floral fragrance can smell slightly cheap or coarse. The petals make a similar mess to those of common camellia, although not as thick. The fallen fruits crunch underfoot. But in general the main things that bother me are the wispiness of its very slender twigs and the lack of fall color, the leaves simply yellowing and dropping.

That and there are too many of them being planted in my area, where the summer climate is often a trial for it. While certainly unique in flower and capable of being elegant Japanese snowdrop tree does not offer enough to sustain interest when encountered over and over. And most planting sites here are not watered and fertilized enough for east Asian species like this, resulting in slow growth and yellowish leaves. We are the Home of Brown Lawns, because many properties receive little, if any watering, and after summer arrives (in July) rainfall is often very scant for two or three months. When the rainy season returns with the storms of November it has become too cold for growth.

i have a 16 year old tree. it is glorious in bloom! the bees love it! my whole front garden smells amazing! the leaves are small and since it is in my garden, i have never cleaned up any of the litter. it is just mulch for the garden. The seeds are not a problem. i just sweep them off the walkway.

This is a rather old post but since it has been resurrected, I'd add a differing opinion from one previously expressed. I do not find that "too many of them are planted" in my area. In fact, they are rather uncommon and not all that widely available at area nurseries. I find they have a light but pleasing fragrance, do not produce much in the way of litter (seed pods tend to stay attached until late fall/winter). They are not overly drought tolerant and do require some periodic watering during our dry summers but then so do scores of other plants!! It is not really a big deal.

They are included as part of Great Plant Picks, highly recommended plants for the PNW.

'Evening Light' is a current favorite....smaller overall in size than the species and with deeply purple tinted foliage, against which the fragrant white flowers are held in contrast. A very nice small tree with minimal drawbacks.

Routine, nonselective planting of monsoon-adapted trees such as Japanese snowdrop is rapidly becoming questionable in the American West and any other part of the country where a naturally moist growing site cannot be counted on throughout the summer.

My goal is to encourage as much diversity as possible, but our dry summers make it difficult for many species to thrive unless they are watered. Most of the following trees, once established, are likely to perform adequately without being watered

Article - Trees that merit planting in Seattle by Arthur Lee Jacobson

Questionable by whom? The Puget Sound area has experienced dry summers or a recurring summer drought for decades.......this is nothing new. So all of a sudden someone has decided that these trees are no longer tenable?? What nonsense! That would effectively eliminate a good 75% of what is commonly grown here! And a great many homeowners DO have inground irrigation and are not adverse to using it. All my design clients request it.

I realize you revere Arthur Lee Jacobson for whatever reasons but many others do not consider him the be-all and end-all of PNW horticulture.

we have long dry summers where I live and I have never purposely watered my tree and it does great. i do very occasionally water plants that are near by, as it seems most plants cant go the whole summer without water.