Is anyone here familar with paw paw trees? I decided to try to

[hedgehog]

plant some since this is a native species, but Wiki describes the flower as foetid, so I am unsure how close to the house I want them.

[noamnety]

1. I have a pair

I love them. I've never noticed any smell from them at all. They've been maintenance free, free of all the disease and scum that attacks my other trees - and they have really nice tropical looking leaves. Sometimes I hand pollinate with a paintbrush because I read that bugs aren't all that interested in pollinating them. But last year I was slow to do it, and they created a bunch of fruit anyway. Anyway, being close enough to the flowers to pollinate, you'd think I'd have noticed a smell. And I have a really sensitive sense of smell.

Keep an eye of the fruit - if you have critters in the yard, they'll swipe it behind your back.

[hedgehog]

2. Thanks - apparently at one time they were all over the Northeast

but I've never seen one. SInce I'm allergic to fresh (uncooked) banana and pineapple, I'm halfway suspicious I'll love the fruit but be unable to eat it!

[noamnety]

3. There are wild stands of them

at a local nature center. One of my trees bloomed a year or two before the other started, so in those years I rode my bike there, and collected the pollen with the paintbrush and a ziploc bag.

[MuseRider]

4. I have been checking them out.

When I was a kid my grandma would take us out into the country to pick them. I think they might have been considered native to the area but if not they do well here with little to no care. I am considering planting a few of them next year.

I do not remember a smell but that was a long time ago. Still, if it was that bad I would remember it since smell seems to be my strongest sense and many of my oldest memories are triggered by smell.