Looks like a barberry.

agree ...

dad planted one.. next to my basketball net ... i have nothing good to say about this plant ...

lifes too short.. get rid of it ... if it doesnt please you ... but put the body armor on first ... lol ...

with a lot of the shrubs with rather small flowers ... you need quite a mass of the flowers.. to get the smell ... so i suspect ... your has thrived.. and finally gotten large enough ...

another thing with small flowers... you smell them on the breeze ... but if you try to go sniff them ... its hard to discern the aroma ...

ken

I have a friend who describes the aroma as that of a "wet male goat"! I personally have never smelled a wet male goat and have never noticed a particular scent from any of my barberries (which I am quite fond of, btw) but the literature suggests that once the flowers are pollinated, the scent disappears.

I can't imagine it could smell worse than boxwood........boxwood in sun gives off a strong aroma of male cat urine. And that's from the foliage, so very persistent and not a fleeting flower scent.

...I like some barberries too, I grow 'Admiration' and 'Bagatelle' for dwarf foliage effect...

...if you don't like anything smelly, then I would advise against Diosma ericoides 'Pink Fountain'.... in full flush now and a really pretty plant, it's scent, if we can call it that, is reminiscent of smelly feet.... old socks... or cat's poo... I'm never quite sure which...

if we are talking stench ... cleveland selact dreaded pear and prunus serrotina ... wild cherry.. the furniture tree ....

and the serrotina is 80 feet tall ... talk about a few days of wanting to die ... on my entire 5 ACRES ...

and dont talk to me about the pear.. a house warming gift from the inlaws ... wife will kill me.. if i got rid of it ... they gave us two.. i did remove the other ...

gal.. good to know.. you are NOT up close and personal with male goats ... lol ...

ken

I have friends who have goats and I am very fond of them, especially pygmy goats, and would love to have a couple but nowhere to keep them. And then there is also the issue of them devouring my garden. Pygmy goats follow you around like pet dogs - very sweet. But I think I'd stay away from any males......it rains too much here! lol

Lots of great comments- barberry it must be. Smells like death. It is over 5 1/2 feet tall and pretty wide- must have gotten big enough to produce a noticeable odor. Yes, quite thorny and may be lots of fun getting rid of it. Thanks to all!

Ken, don't disrespect my pears!

Also, Jap. barberry is invasive in many states in NE USA.

+oM

This looks more like a Huckleberry. The berries are sweet and the birds love them so do i.

I agree that it is Berberis. I've never noticed their pong but it's years since I went anywhere near one.

One shrub that I think smells a bit unpleasant is Viburnum tinus, but only when it's wet. Somehow the rain brings forth an aroma of cat urine.

ETA: I almost forgot to say that to my nose, Buxus smells like pesticide.

No question that it's Berberis. You can even see the flowers. Never noticed any smell.

Viburnum tinus puzzled me for a long time. Every morning I walked past hedge of it on my way to work and couldn't ever see where the dog turd was. Finally realised it was the hedge I could smell.

I’m sure some would consider it aromatic, but to me, this rose like plant stinks and exacerbates my allergies. Does anyone know what it is?

Looks like mock orange, Philadelphus.

And I think you may be the first person I have encountered that didn't like the scent. 😊 But that is perfectly fine, especially if it bothers your allergies.

I like the scent of Philadelphus but I'm not particularly keen on Gardenia. I mean it's nothing like the other plants mentioned above, which smell like cat wee, poison or wet goat, but it's not one I would buy for its scent.

Regarding the OP's original photo, any kid could tell you what that is. It's a pricker bush, lol.

At least, any kid growing up where I did, in the city on a block of rowhouses with small yards where everyone had these around their plots as a sort of defense (against us kids most likely lol).

They were the bushes that when you played in the street, your ball, no matter how hard you tried, inevitably went into, and you had to draw straws to see who would have to go into the pricker bushes to get it.

Ah, the good old days...

:)

Dee