Day 9 of my daily visits to Washington, DC’s US Botanical Garden’s corpse flower to view and photograph it. I talked to a curator today. They won’t even guess when it is going to bloom. He said he would say 1 – 3 days, but they have been saying that for the past week. The plant keeps surprising them because it keeps growing. They thought since it is only seven years old, and this is the first time it has bloomed, that it would be a small bloom. However, it keeps growing. Two days ago it was 72 inches. Last night it was 86 inches, and this morning it was 91 inches tall. The spadix is growing, and the base below the spathe is also growing. They have had to cut fronds off of the nearby palms because it keeps growing. This would help to explain why I have been having trouble gauging its growth because the background keeps changing. They have a stationary video camera and still camera in front of it that automatically take video and photos. They have had to readjust the frame on them three times because it keeps growing out of frame. That is insane. The plant will bloom when it blooms. It wants to put on a show I think.
As always, to best see the changes in the plant, view the photos from the past eight days (July 11, July 12, July 13, July 14, July 15, July 16, July 17, and July 18). Also, see the “Corpse Flower” page on my website that has photos from everyday that shows the whole plant so the photos can be more easily compared. It seems to me the spathe is getting frillier, but I can’t be sure. Finally, as for the daily smell report, there still is no smell.
