The Corpse Flower Lives

The Conservatory of Flowers had been predicting that the corpse flower's opening was imminent for about a week, but even by Sunday, July 2, it remained stubbornly closed. Thankfully we were able to keep track of it via the web cam, and I took several screenshots in anticipation of its grand opening.

 

Like my trail cameras, the Conservatory's web cam also has decent night vision.

I checked the web cam throughout the day and saw the flower's first opening at around 4 p.m. yesterday. I don't know how long people had to wait in line to get in before the plant opened, but these lucky viewers no doubt had it easier than folks who went after news of its opening got out. The only thing the early birds missed was the corpse-like stink, which apparently didn't come on strong until later.

My wife and I went down around 8:15 p.m. yesterday but turned around and went home when we saw how long the line was. It was certainly going to be more than a 45-minute wait, and the Conservatory had posted that the "last entry" would be 9 p.m. As you can see, they were still letting people in after 10 p.m.!

Scarlet the Corpse Flower was looking good this morning, ready for the large numbers of Fourth of July visitors.

I took a spin past the Conservatory on my bike to see that the line snaked from the front entrance, east all the way down the length of the building and beyond, then up a winding pedestrian path to Conservatory Drive at Arguello Blvd., then downhill to the vehicle barrier. My wife read on social media that people were waiting two hours to get in to have a look at this infrequently blooming flower -- and imbibe a good snootful of Scarlet's beguiling scent.

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