Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens is getting ready for Grimace, its titan arum, to open ahead of schedule and well outside the plant's usual summer window. The bloom itself had not been confirmed as of Thursday. Staff were watching a plant that last put on this show on July 28, 2024, and that may not stay open long once it does.
The anticipated flowering would be Grimace's fourth since Huntington Botanical Gardens in California gave the plant to the Rockford conservatory in 2011, Rock River Current reported. Conservatory manager Dan Erwin said the community is fortunate to get another look this soon.
A November Date on a Summer Plant
Titan arums, Amorphophallus titanum, typically bloom in summer. Northern Public Radio noted that a November opening would be an odd slot on that calendar. Grimace's previous bloom, before the July 28, 2024, event, came on July 21, 2021, so the gap this time would be a little more than two years.
Published accounts do not agree on the usual wait. Rock River Current puts a typical interval at every three to 10 years after a first bloom. The conservatory's own page says a plant can take two to 10 years to flower again. WIFR, covering the 2024 opening, reported a range of every three to five years. Grimace is not waiting on the long end of any of those estimates.
The clock is short either way. Rock River Current says the bloom lasts two to three days. Northern Public Radio and WIFR have described the show as 24 to 48 hours. Visitors who miss the narrow window are mostly left with a very large plant and a story about the smell.
How Grimace Got Its Name
The conservatory says Huntington Botanical Gardens gifted the titan arum in 2011. A naming contest in August 2018 produced Grimace, a label that points both at the purple color and at the face people make when the odor arrives. During the 2024 bloom the plant was 21 years old.
That color is the local distinction. Nicholas Conservatory says the spadix of a titan arum is typically white, yellowish or green. Most plants of the species show yellow or greenish coloring inside. Grimace's purple bloom is comparatively rare, which is a nicer claim than the one about the smell.
The species is native to Sumatra. The odor is not a party trick for people. WIFR reported that the smell helps draw flies and beetles, the pollinators the flower is actually trying to reach. While it blooms, the plant can also heat itself: Rock River Current says up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the conservatory says over 100.
The Measurements From Earlier Openings
Grimace's largest recorded bloom came in 2018, at 80.37 inches tall and 48 inches wide, a figure both Rock River Current and Northern Public Radio cite. In 2024 it stood 71.5 inches, nearly six feet, still tall enough to stop a room and short of that earlier mark.
The 2024 opening pulled a crowd. The Rockford Park District said thousands of people visited the conservatory during that bloom. WIFR reported that once the plant had begun to bloom, the district announced special viewing from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on July 29, 2024. MyStateline reported that the conservatory also set up a livestream so people could watch from a safe smelling distance.
Where to Watch This Time
The conservatory is at 1354 N. Second St. Extended hours for this bloom had not been posted. Staff said those hours would be announced once Grimace begins to open, which is the practical difference between a plant that is preparing and a plant that is already in flower.
A Facebook livestream is up to track the plant, though no public web address for that feed was included with the reporting. Anyone who wants the in-person version will have to move when the conservatory does. The spectacle, and the odor that comes with it, is what brought people in last time. This time the calendar is earlier, the season is wrong, and the window is still measured in hours and a couple of days.
