DeBoe said the city should consider importing some lotus blooms for the festival. Foster said ideas have been suggested about heating the plants next year to prevent a similar delay, but otherwise, he said, "It's something that's out of our hands."
But it may be this year's record low rainfalls, not the current heat wave, that is at fault, said William Patzert, a climatologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.
Though last year's cool spring and warm summer led to a "late bloom, but a pretty good one," Patzert said, this winter's cool, dry weather could have deprived the lotuses of essential nutrients present in rainwater, leading to fewer, more anemic blooms.
"In comparison with aqueduct water, rain has a lot of nitrogen, so after it rains, everything greens up," Patzert said. The record-breaking lack of rain "has deprived the lotus of critical ingredients like nitrogen, so this year's crop might be suffering from a nutrient deficiency."
But the Echo Park lotuses aren't the only plants on an unexpected schedule this summer. At Botanicare Plant Services in Manhattan Beach, proprietor Todd Schneider said some of his plants have developed poor growing habits.
"With the excessive heat, the plants dry out and require more water, and a lot of people don't realize that," he said. "This year, we have plants that are supposed to bloom early that aren't and other plants that usually stay dormant that are blooming."
To combat the effects of the weather, Schneider said, Botanicare's staff is working extra hours maintaining the plants by giving them more water and removing dead leaves and blooms.
But he also suggested that the strange behavior of his plants may be due to this year's unexplained absence of pollinating bees.
"There are less honeybees doing less work," Schneider said. "The temperature in California has always been going back and forth, but now there are flowers on trees that usually bloom in spring that are only just blooming now."
Regardless of the reason, if the lotuses fail to emerge en masse by the time of the festival, DeBoe said, tourism and summer spirit will falter in Echo Park.
"The lotus is more than just a plant. It's the theme of the summer," he said. "Everyone is walking around the park commenting about how sad it is -- the summer without a theme. The lotus helps attract a lot of people. It brings the community together."
tiffany.hsu@latimes.com
tami.abdollah@latimes.com
