The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation wants you to know that something stinky this way comes.

Actually, the putrid stench will be available for smelling over at the Bloedel Conservatory--if and when "Uncle Fester" does his thing. (Maybe you remember that old children's rhyme: "The Addams Family started, when Uncle Fester farted..." Probably not.)

Anyway, as detailed in a Park Board press release issued today, Uncle Fester is the name given to the conservatory's Amorphophallus titanum, commonly known as titan arum or corpse flower. 

"Most years, the tropical plant produces only a leaf," reads the press release, "but some years, an enormous flower spike--or spadix--will emerge, wrapped in a frilly, modified leaf called a spathe. The spathe unfolds, exposing small flowers that bloom in rings around its base that release scent molecules to signal their readiness for fertilization."

That's when the smell of death kicks in.

“Bets are on as to when exactly the flower will open," says Bloedel Conservatory superintendant Bruce McDonald in the press release, "but based on its already-larger corm, we think this year’s bloom is going to be bigger and stinkier than ever before!”

For more info on Uncle Fester and to view its growth chart go here.