'It's awful': Corpse flower opens up with smelly welcome at Meijer Gardens

"It definitely smells bad and it's a beautiful flower."

That's the consensus of visitors at Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park on Tuesday. Many came to see, and more importantly to smell, the rare bloom of a corpse flower.

WXMI/Andy Curtis

While we cannot share the smell over the internet, we did ask people who got close to the flower to describe it.

"Kind of like meat that's just turned bad," said Michael Levanduski from Grand Rapids. "You know, a couple days ago type of thing. It's not totally rancid but still pretty bad."

"It's awful," said his wife, Angela Levanduski. "It makes me want to throw up."

"Just rotting," said Lizz Elwood from Holland. "Just like rotting stuff."

"When I'm running on the side of the road in Holland, sometimes I smell deer carcasses on the side of the road," said her husband Charles Elwood. "And that's what it reminds me of."

Anticipation for the bloom has been growing since last week when Meijer Gardens announced it was growing closer . Corpse flowers blooms come once roughly every decade, or sometimes even longer. This flower, nicknamed "The Beast," last opened in 2018 , its first bloom.

Now the corpse flower joins several other unique experiences in 2024.

"So this year we've already seen an eclipse and we've seen the northern lights and now we've seen a corpse flower bloom," said Lizz Elwood.

"Come and see it," said Michael Levanduski. "It's awesome and well worth the wait in line."

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