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| Kath Schifano painting the Titan Arum background |
On May 4, I drove to
Niagara Parks Floral Showhouse in Ontario, Canada, to sketch the giant Titan Arum that was about to bloom. It is commonly called a 'Corpse Plant' because while it blooms it smells like rotten meat to attract insects. There were tables nearby, so I sat with my travel watercolor set and visited the wonderful bulb, observing some of its expansion and swelling as I sat....it opened later that evening and the giant stinky bloom lasted just the next day. Painting, I was able to watch the ribs expand, showing more red undercolor by the time I left. There is a second bulb behind it which will open soon and has been moved to the front. They have a wonderful step by step blog with photos
here, the first one reached 95" in height. It was on the news so many visitors came in while I was working, sometimes I had to wait until the crowd thinned to see the flower. Placing the man taking a photo with his phone was so easy, as he walked away, another came to look and take the same photo.
One of the nice things about the Floral Showhouse is the resident birds, they have hidden birdhouses indoors and there are many songbirds of various colors for entertainment, at first I thought it was a recording. My two photos are only 30 minutes apart, look carefully and see how the base is expanded in the second photo. I probably missed the opening by only 2-3 hours, but I plan to return for the second one. These are very rare, the 150 pound bulb was planted in January and grew a few inches each day. If you choose to go, it is just upriver from the Horseshoe Falls, near Dufferin Islands, not at the floral clock or butterfly conservatory.
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| Kath Schifano, photo |
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