Archive for July, 2010Page 2

Arb Sightings 7/21/10

Another week of hot temperatures has brought only a hint of storms to southern Minnesota and little to no rainfall. Humidity levels have dropped somewhat since last week, so the heat indexes haven’t been unbearable. This pattern will probably continue through next week, with temperatures forecast to be in the low to mid-80’s and chances […]

A Titanic Family Tradition

Perry was overjoyed all over again this past Sunday, when a goodly segment (four out of five) of his/her favorite family of Perryophiles, the Pattons, visited soon after the visit of Molly and Andrew.  They’ve been participating in Gustavus Amorphophallus happenings since a week or so before Perry’s first flowering about 3 1/2 years ago, […]

Perry Flowering Status Update

I took a look at Perry at about 4:25 this afternoon, and the spathe shows no sign of unfurling (flapping back of the edge along the seam), even though the parts of the edge at the top seem to have flared out a bit more.  At about 8:15 this morning, Perry had a distinct barnyardish […]

Molly! Perryophile Extraordinaire

Perry was highly pleased to receive a visit from one of her/his most dedicated fans, Molly E. J. Winter (formerly Molly Jordan)  and her husband Andrew yesterday.  Molly, now in veterinary school, graduated from Gustavus in 2007, so was here for Perry’s inaugural flowering in May 2007.  She was the first person to inquire about […]

Titanic Titillations

Perry the Corpse Flower continues her/his coyness with regard to his/her actual date(s) of opening.  Signs of the impending burst of full flowering will be:  falling away of the cataphylls at the base of Perry’s now-titanic inflorescence (signifying roughly two days until full flowering), and a heavy surge of purple pigment into the leafy tips […]

Arb Sightings 7/15/10

St. Peter saw another half inch of rain fall over this past weekend, but somehow yesterday’s severe storms missed most of south-central Minnesota. Several tornadoes did however touch down just over an hour east of St. Peter near Northfield, and both hail and high winds were observed in the Twin Cities. As temperatures yesterday in […]

Vive la Perry!

Happy Bastille Day from Perry and her/his mentor and godfather! Perry continues to grow at an astounding rate.  I’ve included a calibration photo for the present growth:  Perry at approximately the same stage on May 5, 2007.  The other photos were taken on July 13 and 14.  The second of those features new Perryophile Matt […]

The Perry Blossom Special

The Perry Train has long since left the station, and is now barreling along at full speed.  Perry’s inflorescence continues to grow at a rate of centimeters per day, and an organization has been created to coordinate activities.   Once the “It’s opening!” button is pushed, the well-oiled machine that is the Perry Lollapalooza Plan […]

Arb Sightings 7/8/10

I think it’s safe to say that Minnesota has broken its recent pattern of summer droughts. After three years in a row of unusually dry summers, this past June alone saw several inches of rain throughout the state. All that rain actually caused many of the state’s rivers to reach flood stage, something that doesn’t […]

Titan Arum Eruption – The Spadix Emerges

Perry the Corpse Flower (aka Titan Arum, aka Amorphophallus titanum) continues his/her volcanic skyward surge.  In the initial stage of the titanic vegetable eruption, the spathe (the leafy, outer part of the inflorescence), in a grinning, somewhat Elvis-like manner, revealed her/himself to human eyes on July 4, 2010.  Fireworks were set off (probably not in […]