Smelly daffodils

JamesandJon33

I love daffodils and have loads in the garden. Mostly that is were they stay. I only bring bent ones indoor as I always have thought that daffodils smell of wet knickers.

I love daffs but agree. They are not known for being fragrant, have had a lovely bunch in the living room but they do produce a smell of urine imho.

My bunches of daffodils from Waitrose also smell once opened for a day or 2. So I put them outside while still in flower, but pongy.
Also hyacinth don't smell as nice as they used to. They have to go out as well so I can see them but jot smell them

Old thread again.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I bought some daffs in Sainsburys a few weeks back and they never opened up, just withered and went brown while still in bud which was a disappointment.

Maybe we have different sensors in our noses???
My Sainsbury’s daffs have a nice gentle smell but the day old cut Eucalyptus takes my breath away.
It’s so often a filler in gifted flowers and looks lovely but I can’t bear the smell. It’s nothing like the fresh clean smell of growing Eucalyptus. The cut stuff has to go straight outside!

Love daffs I even had them as church flowers at my wedding but I hate their smell

I bought some daffodils to take to the crematorium for mothers day. This morning I walked into the kitchen and thought I could smell cat wee, (I don't have cats). Like you I sniffed around and it was definitely the daffs! I was happy to take them to the crem this morning!

"Climate change means we can now get daffodils from mid-January. I have never had a problem with any strange smell."

There've always been early daffodils from the west country. I live in Cornwall part of the year and we have the littlest ones called Sols from mid November.

I used to treat myself to a bunch of ‘sols’ from the flower seller when I worked in London. My mum said they were Soleil d’or. I loved them.

Oh just had a sniff at mine and nothing at all smell wise. Bought from Aldi and love the bright flowers and colour to cheer up a cold and dull today, like today!

I love daffodils and have loads in the garden. Mostly that is were they stay. I only bring bent ones indoor as I always have thought that daffodils smell of wet knickers.

I love daffodils but dislike the smell. I was given a bunch a few days ago by a neighbour who we take parcels in for. The flowers are lovely but there is a distinctly unpleasant smell emanating from them. Could it be some kind of preservative they’ve been sprayed with ? Any florists on here that can enlighten us ?

Love to see Daffodils - cheering sign of Spring. But yes, they DO smell and unfortunately they often make me sneeze and even make my nasal passages sore when they first come in. Think I have developed an allergy to them.

I too have bought daffs from Sainsbury’s and been hunting a smell for the last 10 days but to me it smells like urine! Came to the conclusion it had to be the daffs

Just had to go and sniff my daffodils that are fully open. Not a bit of a scent now though there was a lovely aroma when I got up this morning. Guess, as someone has said, we all have a "different" sense of smell.

Have come across the cat pee scenario before, very strong smell but only on those daffs with very tiny, double heads. Shame because they're so pretty.

This discussion has triggered a memory.

My mother liked Avon. During the 1960s, the rep would call around with samples. She demonstrated a fragrance called Occur! Anyone remember that? It smelled good on the rep. When my mother and I tried it on our wrists it smelled foul - like dog poo.

I’ve looked it up on a fragrance website and found this:

www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Avon/Occur-2308.html

Scroll down to a review by Cassandra-lyris

Soapy indolic flowers, an ammonia-like pungency … Then during the dry down the urine-y funk …

Pee and poo again but no mention of burnt wiring but I do think it must be the indole that is making the daffs smell unpleasant.

We had one bunch that smelt a bit like wee 😱

I've always loved most scented flowers but as I've got older I can't tolerate them in the house as I seem to have developed an allergy to most of them. I used to love hyacinths, freesias, etc in the house but not any more unfortunately 😕

I've just remembered we detected a very slight burning smell a few weeks ago in the kitchen, but couldn't locate it. Now I'm wondering if that was daffodils. The ones I have at the moment smell lovely.

TinSoldier

Many plants, including narcissi, contain a chemical called indole the smell of which attracts pollinators.

People have different senses of smell but it’s been described variously as acrid and pungent like pee, poo, overheated electrical appliances and burnt cables.

This is almost certainly the answer.

I think our sense of smell changes with age.

I think these must be a different strain from ones I've had before. As I say, I always get them with my shopping for a while in the Spring, and this is the first time I've had the burning smell.

40 years ago you could get boxes of mixed scented daffodils from the Scilly Isles at Christmas. My husband always ordered a box for my mum who adored them.

I think the 'smell' issue is on a similar line to people (like me) who find fresh coriander tastes 'soapy' while loving ground coriander. Something to do with genes and receptors. My mum always said freesias smelt of a mixture of pepper and cat pee.

No, the 'vase' is just a tall drinking glass.

That's interesting about others having described the smell in the same way, TS. It's good to know it's not just me. Mr D has a much weaker sense of smell than mine, but even he could smell it.