Little shop of horrors?

I took a trip over to the Botanic Gardens today for a sight and smell extravaganza.

On the left is the Amorphophallus titanum (titan arum); a giant Sumatran plant locally dubbed 'New Reekie'. Come on, admit it, you think it's reminiscent of Audrey II too right?

The Titan Arum has one of the largest and smelliest blooms in the world. It flowers infrequently in the wild and very very rarely when cultivated - and it requires 7–10 years of vegetative growth before it blooms for the first time. So this is really quite remarkable. It's still in critical condition - as to whether it will bloom or not, but I'll try to get down for another blip if it does.

Also at the Botanic Gardens today was the Edinburgh cake fest, where they're building a giant cake map of the city. The bottom right is the construction taking place and the top right is a cake version of the Glasshouse where New Reekie is housed.

The cake buildings were amazing, there are some talented bakers out there! I left the Botanics before the cake city was completed though. They're giving away free cake at 5pm and I didn't want to wreck the diet - especially not with only 16 days to go!