How your nose if you are near San Francisco.

Amorphophallus titanum is about to bloom at the Conservatory of Flowers http://www.conservatoryofflowers.org/whatsnew/index.htm Visit at your own risk.

YUCHHHHH. I bought a couple Dragon Arums through a mail order house. They didn't mention the stench. I opened that box and I thought that something had died. And that was just from the bulbs. I can't imagine how the actual flower must smell. I think that it's better left to the imagination. I learned to do some research first before I bought something that might be 'interesting'.

A friend actually took them and planted them. Go figure.

Silly me, I plant 3 in the yard. Definitely not a houseplant. I hope to make it to the Conservatory tomorrow to experience the really big stinker.

Just how big is your yard? Not something to plant under your kitchen window. I guess the saving grace is that the bloom which smells like 'stinking human flesh' only lasts for a few days. Is the foliage worth it?

My neighbors used to have male Ginkos hanging over my back fence. They finally relented and now they're gone. Thank goodness!

I have 1/2 acre lot. Dracunulas vulgaris goes well with dusty miller. Very short term odor and as I get older, 1st the eyes, then the ears and now the nose: Who knows what I'll loose next.

Looks great with Dusty Miller. Isn't Dusty Miller a great plant. Kind of like a giant lichen.

But I don't know what I was thinking. I'm always a sucker for a weird plant. I got a call from the wife of my friend who took the bulbs to ask me if I knew about the one blooming in San Francisco. Turns out she refused to let him plant them.

Can't say I blame her. :-)