If you want your olfactory sense to match the rest of those feelings of impending doom, then the U.S. Botanic Garden is here for you with the scent of a “combination of garlic, fish, diapers, and rotting meat.”

Yes, a new corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum, which translates to misshapen giant penis, but is popularly known as titan arum) is in town. Native to Sumatra, Indonesia, the plant has a collection of flowers that appears to be a single blossom, known as an inflorescence, that emits its namesake smell. They can grow up to 12 feet tall in their natural habitat and live for 40 years.

The six-year-old specimen is already on display at the Botanic Garden and expected to bloom for the first time in its life sometime between July 28-31. “It is growing multiple inches every single day, and really progressing pretty quickly,” according to Susan Pell, the science and public programs manager at the Botanic Garden.

The last time the garden brought a corpse flower to the conservatory from their production facility in Anacostia, it took three weeks to bloom, Pell says. But temperatures were much milder, and the oppressive heat this time around is expected to speed up the process.

Back in 2013, a number of the 130,000 visitors expressed disappointment that they didn’t get to experience the plant’s legendary stench. That’s because it only emits compounds that attract pollinators on one evening, the night when it first blooms, starting around sunset. “By 10 p.m., it is really stinky and it just keeps getting stinkier until about midnight or so, before tapering off,” Pell tells DCist. The next day and night, there’s still some lingering offensiveness but not exactly rotting elephant levels of unpleasantness. “If [visitors] want to get that super stink, they’ll want to come that night that its fully open,” she advises.

To accommodate the stench seekers, the Botanic Garden will stay open until 11 p.m. for the two nights it is in bloom (they stayed open until 8 p.m. last time around).

Predicting the blossom isn’t an exact science, but staffers are watching as the leaves continue to fall away. “We’re still pretty confident in our projection, but can’t really pinpoint the date [until more fall off]. Then we’ll see more color and swelling. The base will start to swell as the flowers within start to mature,” Pell explains. Once that happens, it will open up within 24-48 hours.

In addition to a livestream in D.C., there are also corpse flower cams set up in New York City and Indiana University, and twin plants in Sarasota’s Selby Gardens, which are each awaiting their own burst of putrid perfume. But there’s no rivalry between the horticulturalists, according to Pell. Instead, they are all collaborating to share pollen from their specimens. When the first one blooms, they’re working on getting a sample to send on to the next garden, and so on, in a chain.

“The bloom is really only open that first night and that is when the flowers are receptive. You have to get in there quickly to fertilize,” Pell says, citing the importance of maintaining genetic diversity in their collections.

She adds that while most visitors are keen to see the opening, the few days after are also fascinating. “It is really interesting to see the progression as it grows rapidly, and then the bloom of course, and then the demise of the bloom—the whole center structure flops over,” Pell says. We’re just hoping that isn’t a metaphor for the country.

Keep up with plant’s progress:

The U.S. Botanic Garden (100 Maryland Avenue SW) has extended hours until 8 p.m. while the plant is on display. Once it is in peak bloom, the facility will stay open until 11 p.m. for two nights. Expect long lines.