Lawndale's Hawthorne Boulevard is involved in a stinky situation.
The culprit: a strong scent coming from society garlic plants along the street median.
The odor has become so offensive that city officials are considering whether to uproot thousands of dollars worth of the 5,000 flowering plants along Hawthorne Boulevard. The city planted the tropical flowers only six years ago.
The plan might cost the city up to $34,000, the Daily Breeze reported.
"Since we put them out there, there hasn't been a vampire seen in Lawndale," Councilman Jim Ramsey told the Breeze. "So why should we take it out and let the vampires move back?"
Sound reasoning, but nobody wants a bad name, especially a bad nickname.
Ramsey's colleague, Jim Osborne, is an arborist who wanted to change the city's official flower from the bird of paradise to the poppy, according to the Breeze. He said a resident told him that her out-of-town visitors have started calling the community "Smellydale."
The grayish green leaves can be used in cooking, and the plant's hardy flowers actually smell like hyacinths, but the leaves give off a sometimes overpowering garlic scent.
