The 178cm plant is expected to unfurl as early as Sunday and release its signature scent of rotting flesh and ‘possum urine’
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Geelong botanic gardens is preparing for its second corpse flower bloom in two years – a normally rare event that has been dubbed a “smelly sequel”.
The flower, which broke through soil at the end of September, has been rapidly gaining height, heating up and turning purple, all signs of an impending bloom. It’s expected to unfurl as early as Sunday, releasing its signature scent of rotting flesh – and, when it does, it will bloom for just 24 to 48 hours.
At 178cm tall, this year’s plant, known as “Pete”, is nearly double the size of “Betsy”, which bloomed at the gardens in 2024. Pungent Pete, which is 13 years old, already towers above Tracie Abel, a horticulturist at the gardens.
“It’s pretty impressive,” she says. “We’re assuming that it’s going to be a lot smellier this year, because it’s a bigger plant, bigger flower.”
Titan arums are commonly called corpse flowers due to their putrid stench, variously described as being reminiscent of decaying possum, old sweaty socks or the “rich stench of a public bin on a 40-degree day”.