I was just at the Minnesota Landscape Arb and walked by what I think was Viburnum cassinoides. It was a large, healthy specimen and covered with visually appealing flowers. The same cannot be said about the fragrance, which was nauseating.

the dreaded pears stink to high heaven..

and so do prunus serotina in mast years ... not unlike the end result... the flower production varies year to year ... might also be a winter bud kill or frost freeze issue also ...

youre walking across the yard minding your own business .. and bammo .. you feel like puking on your own feet .. i mean really.. this isnt college again .. lol ...

and though there are some sublime viburnum.... many are puke worthy ...

ken

Mountain ash smells like sewer.

prunus virginiana is my favorite smell ever

Plant shown looks to have leaves of Photinia glabra

Viburnum tinus = dog s—t (in or out if flower)

Here's a whole row of Photinia on the campus of Washington College. The side not shown is the sunny side and new growth is red, the shady side not so much.

Good thing that bees are 'nose blind'. :-)

The first warm late Spring day we lived here, DH was catching a scent outside that was disturbing him. He even walked over and looked into the ravine across the street, wondering if one of the neighbors had cleaned crab or clams and dumped the shells/leavings there. No, it was coming from two trees on the hill above the garage. Ornamental pears.

They are far enough away its only detectable on a very warm day, and thankfully being coastal we have few of those during their bloom. They are decades old, maybe even original to the 1955 landscaping.

Castanea mollissima...

Salvia

Agreew/ViburnumValley -- I'm rarely bothered by almost any plant smell -- I like the smells of crushed Ailanthus leaves and umbrella magnolia flowers. But not Chinese chestnut flowers....

"Can you think of a tree/shrub with stinkier flowers? Whatrever would that be?"

Callery pear - any cultivar

Viburnum tinus

Eugenia axillaris

female Ginkgo in fruit

and not the flowers but English boxwood or pfitzer type juniper basking in midday sun

Here’s a candidate for Mayor of Stinkytown. I was trying to think of how I could describe the fragrance, and the best I could come up with is a boys high school locker room on a Friday afternoon. It has been a long time since I was in HS, but the policy was that all phy ed clothing had to be taken home for washing at the end of each week. Even in the upper Midwes it can get pretty warm in early September and late May. As you might expect, it got a bit ripe by the end of the week. Yeah, that’s how this one smells.

Yes - amazing that this one is so awful, when cousin Bigleaf Magnolia is so sweet.

Plecranthus neochilus and clerofendrum inerme. Even a light breeze brings out the worst of them, but I really like the clerodendrum, stench and all.

I've got two viburnum tinus and haven't noticed any stench.

Saw this thread’s topic and immediately thought of this.

Here's Clerodendrum trichotomum mentioned earlier, for us it is an August bloomer. It is worth noting that it is the foliage that stinks, it absolutely reeks. The flowers however are sweetly perfumed.

PBJ clerodendrum sounds llike paradise.

Privet hedge just a wee bit overgrown. Weather here is hot & humid, when I took this pic I was really hit with a wall of stink.

Somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned hawthorn. I wonder if the hardy Photinia (P villosa) is as bad as Red Tip? I don't think I've come across it around here except maybe at an arboretum.

Agree that privets are generally unpleasant, but to my nose Autumn-olive and Gray Dogwood are worse. I eliminate Autumn-olive whenever I have the chance, but I have tolerated several stands of Gray Dogwood in the backyard for its pollinator and bird value. Quite a few native insects visit the flowers (see this link "Gray Dogwood" under "Faunal Associations"), I have catbirds nesting in them every year, and a number of birds eat the berries. They're also a host plant for Spring/Summer Azure butterflies. Photo of one of the small bee species visiting the flowers today (6/5/21). Like Bill_minn said, Good thing that bees are 'nose blind'.

Here is a stinky hawthorn. Not sure what kind. dozens and dozens of bees on this tiny tree. again, very stinky.

arbordave, yes, the dogwoods are valuable wildlife shrubs/small trees. The red-stemmed dogwoods colonize my stream-bank & help hold the soil. Alternate-leaf dogwood also produces alot of berries the birds love when ripe. I didn't plant this -- it's a bird-planted volunteer. Right now it's loaded w/green berries.