The flower takes seven to 10 years to bloom for the first time, and only blooms again every three to five years after that. And after those years of waiting, the plant’s flower — which has the scent of rotting flesh — only lasts for a matter of days, making the bloom a horticultural event.
And it’s had a pretty wild past of moving all around the Bay Area before landing itself in the conservatory. This particular corpse flower, known as “Terra the Titan,” last bloomed in 2017. Originally purchased from a plant sale at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, Terra came to the Conservatory in 2014 after a few years in the Mission District bathroom of a private collector.
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The plant has been moved to the Conservatory’s front atrium, so that visitors can drop by to see it even as the rest of the facility remains closed to the public. It’s displayed behind the doors to the conservatory, so you can look in.
// 100 John F Kennedy Dr, Golden Gate Park, conservatoryofflowers.org. Regular updates are going out this week on Instagram and Facebook, and the Conservatory is also screening the bloom live on YouTube, with special presentations from Conservatory staff today and tomorrow at noon and 7 p.m. Photography courtesy of The Conservatory of Flowers.
