Aug 31, 2015

A Force of Nature By Tim Hodson

Forcing a plant into bloom in a greenhouse can be a challenge.

Forcing a plant to bloom under the watchful and eager eyes of the public is even more challenging. But that’s what happened at the Chicago Botanic Garden over the weekend.

On Sunday, the staff horticulturists at the Garden were forced to force the Garden’s corpse plant, nicknamed “Spike,” into bloom.

Spike has been growing for about 12 years now and was predicted to bloom about a week ago, but Mother Nature had other ideas.

Spike had grown to be about 68 inches tall but didn’t have enough energy to open, so the Botanic Garden’s staff had to step in and open the titan arum manually.

Hundreds of spectators stood by watching as staff members made incisions around Spike’s base to help the flower open up and allow its odiferous aroma to be released.

Corpse plants have become quite the attraction for many gardens around the country as people want to “experience” the beauty of the blooms and its pungent odor.

And even though Spike was shy, that didn’t stop people from wanting to learn more about the Amorphophallus titanum that is native to the Indonesian rain forest. According to the Chicago Botanic Garden, more than 50,000 people have visited Spike in person in recent weeks and another 360,000 people have visited the plant’s web page.

His introverted nature also has become a horticultural teaching moment for the Chicago Botanic Garden to help educate people about how plants are “supposed” to bloom.

Do you have any interesting stories about forcing plants into bloom? If you do, I’d love to hear about them. Just drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com.

– Tim