The Huntington Library has some of the most beautiful gardens in the Los Angeles area. The library itself is a beautiful mansion founded by the Huntington family in the 1800s and now houses famous works such as the Gutenberg Bible.
But outside in the beautiful Pasadena air the gardens span a huge stretch of land with everything from Japanese tea gardens to English rose gardens to an indoor rainforest in the conservatory. That is where you will find the Corpse bloom or in technical terms Amorphophallus titanum . Once every few years (no one is sure of an exact cycle) the giant flower opens up and releases its foul smelling odor to attract pollination. A corpse bloom is very rare and many people travel wide and far to find them. I was lucky enough to be in Pasadena when the flower bloomed. It usually only stays open for about 2 or 3 days with its tall yellow center reaching 5 feet and 6 inches! The room was crowded with tourists and there was even a line to wait outside before you could go in the room and take pictures. I definitely smelled the stink of the flower as soon as i walked in the door. The flower stood in the middle and everyone gathered around it to smell it and listen to the talks. The attendants were taking pictures of the small space they had cut into the slower to expose the thousands of seeds inside. It was very interesting to see. Apparently after the flower is done blooming it produces a fruit and then goes dormant for another 3 or more years.
I also wandered around the gardens for another few minutes and enjoyed the beautiful flowers throughout the grounds. It was very interesting to see the giant stinky flower and I definitely wont forget it any time soon.
