Mystery Plants: No, That’s Not a Skunk. – SOLVED

Something I haven’t talked about on this page yet (but maybe should have) was that there was some mystery source of STANK in my front yard. We noticed it when we first got the house, and we weren’t certain of the source.

We thought originally it was a tree with some moldy looking leaves by our front porch, so we pruned it back excessively. That was a mistake, as the smell persisted. It was a mystery until last night, when I saw a post on the Austin gardening subreddit, where someone proudly showed off their “Society Garlic” plant that was shooting new growth after the devastating freeze we had two weeks ago.

The Society Garlic is in the background of this picture. I didn’t take any photos of it before the freeze ruined it.

Here’s the picture from the reddit post:

Here’s how mine looks at the moment:

I recognized it immediately, and Googled it to see if it is known to smell bad.

The leaves smell of garlic when disturbed, so keep this in mind when selecting a location for planting. Having society garlic in a high traffic area may be visually attractive, but unless you like the constant smell of garlic every time the plant is brushed against, this placement is not ideal. On the brighter side, it’s also resistant to deer damage.
University of Florida IFAS

Those leaves must have been disturbed 24/7 because they smelled awful around the clock. This weekend, Andrew and I plan to dig up those plants (beautiful as the flowers may be when they bloom) because holy crap, I cannot wait to not be grossed out by my front yard’s odor.

Here’s what flowers we’re missing out on. Considering the lovely things I have growing from seed…. I don’t think I will miss it.