Ginkgo trees are either male or female and the horrible smell is only produced by female trees, when ripe seeds fall to the ground, i.e. not all ginkgos smell.

Ginkgo trees are either male or female and the horrible smell is only produced by female trees, when ripe seeds fall to the ground, i.e. not all ginkgos smell. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell if a young individual is male or female (https://www.osgf.org/blog/2017/11/7/blandy-ginkgo https://www.osgf.org/blog/2017/11/7/blandy-ginkgo). If you have a patio or small balcony, you can grow the ginkgo shrub (Ginkgo biloba Mariken), we have one and its leaves just turned last week to a fantastic yellow, which is indescribable ... well, I just googled it and the color code is #f9f525