Lady MacDeath, Water Lilies, and More

So yesterday evening, I got an email from the Norfolk Botanical Garden that the corpse flower it has should be blooming soon. For those of you that don’t know the corpse flower, or Titan Arum, is a flower that only blooms for a few days like once every five to ten years. It normally wouldn’t be here in Norfolk, but the Norfolk Botanical Garden (NBG) is being a giant greenhouse that will be able to support the flower.

NBG opened up two hours early for its members. (If you don’t have one, you should get one.) I just had to reserve my ticket and I was in. So I reserved my ticket for about 7:15am Sunday morning and went to bed. Fast forward to this morning and I’m off to the NBG to see this flower. I had seen the flower before at the NBG, but it had not yet bloomed. There was a little bit of a wait to get into the garden and the welcome center, but nothing too bad. Once we were able to get inside, we walked through and got in line to see the flower. It is said the flower gives off a really putrid smell, hence the name corpse flower, but I didn’t notice too strong of a smell. I did read that the smell is usually strongest the first night of the bloom (which would have been last night).

The flower was definitely cool to see, but I was a little disappointed. The spadix (middle point that stands high) had essentially deflated so the flower didn’t look as majestic as it could have. However, like I said, it was a chance to get a picture with a flower that I may not see bloom for at least another five years. I didn’t spend a lot of time taking a photo because the line was pretty long.

A stranger was nice enough to take of photo of me with the Titan Arum aka the corpse flower aka Lady MacDeath.

Titan Arum aka the Corpse Flower aka Lady MacDeath

Bonsai Trees

One of my favorite things about the NBG is the Bonsai tree section. I love bonsai trees and wish I could keep one alive lol. There is a whole little section right when you enter the garden where there are like eight or nine bonsai trees of different types. I just love that they are mini trees. One day I’m going to try again to keep one in my home.

Japanese Garden

One of my favorite places to visit in the NBG is the Japanese garden section. There is just something about it that makes my brain happy. This is where I spent most of my time on this trip to the NBG. In the Japanese Garden, there is a pond that had lots of lily pads and some water lilies. The water lilies have been around for a bit, but I’ve been shooting film and instant so much that I’ve never been able to get good close up shots of the flowers. That wasn’t the case this time.

Just as I was getting ready to leave, this gentleman pointed out there were some frogs in the water. So of course I had to get some pictures of the frogs. There was this tiny one that was so cute just sitting on a lily pad. There was also a bigger one that I was able to get a cool reflection shot of. I am so happy that man pointed out the frogs to me. I was even able to capture a dragonfly hanging out.

Parking Lot Pimpin’

Right before I left, I saw this patch of flowers in the parking lot. They were a gorgeous orange AND they attracted this real cool looking dragonfly. It almost looked like a tiger with its stripes. I am so in love with these photos. As much as I love shooting instant and film photography, digital still has a special place in my heart. I just love photography lol.

Final Thoughts

Today was a great photography day. This has honestly been one of my favorite shoots from 2026 and I had only planned to take photos of Lady MacDeath. It started off a little disappointing, but ended up being great. What are some of your favorite photos?