Damp smelling plant

[TheSortingCat]

We have a north facing front garden and there is a horrible dank smell near to our front door. The house itself doesn't smell damp at all - I'm sure it is coming from outside. I have sniffed all around the door etc, and I'm pretty sure it is coming from a plant, but I don't know which one! Is there anything I can do to get rid of the smell, short of pulling up the whole bed? Are there any known culprits for this sort of smell?

Sorry for the basic questions - I am a first time gardener and know nothing about any of it!

I assume you've checked the drains?!! It may well be a plant - there are quite a few that smell a bit stinky.

Is the smell new or is it always there? If it's intensified recently, and there's something in flower, then that is likely to be the culprit. (Very few plants in the UK smell that strongly if they aren't in flower).

Is it an acrid/foxy smell? There's an unassuming low-growing plant with small leaves and pink flowers that gives off such a smell - its name has disappeared from my memory (probably because I have no plans to grow it!) - if it comes back to me I'll post again. I think it's the leaves that give off the aroma rather the flowers.

aircooled - herb robert?

Yes, it definitely isn't the drains. And it is definitely something outside - once the front door is closed, there is no dank smell any more.

I don't know how long the smell has been there. We only bought the house a couple of weeks ago, and I think the smell has been there the whole time, but I think it is getting worse.

I'll have another look at the plants growing there to see if any are in flower, and look to see if there is any herb robert.

It is a sort of damp, dank smell - not dissimilar to when clothes haven't dried quickly enough and they get that sour smell that you can only get rid of by washing them again.

It could well be herb robert. It does smell a bit like that, and has small pink flowers so you could be fooled into thinking it was an ornamental. I think you would have to have quite a lot of it for it to smell so noticeably. The odd plant grows in my garden sometimes under the hedges, and it does smell rank when I weed it out (and I am quite sensitive to smells).

There are lots of flowering things that smell dubious this time of year, too. Some varieties of actaea flower about now and smell just awful. (Others smell lovely).

It could be herb robert but that's not the plant I was thinking of. Will keep racking my brain...

Got it! Phuopsis stylosa. RHS says it has 'aromatic' leaves. Hmmm...

www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=1444

I've never even heard of that. You're such a plantswoman!

Thank you! I will have a look when I am there tomorrow. (We aren't living there yet because of work being done inside.)