Blooming flowers are intriguing natural phenomena because of the  beauty associated with them. It’s definitely fun to watch it happen,  see for example this video from national geographic

It is also interesting to wonder how this happens. The flower starts  closed and then “decides” to open up, who the hell is pushing it? where is the force coming from?

In the video below I try to explain this curious phenomena. The short answer is that the force is caused by a mismatch between the way the pedal grows at the edge and the way it grows at he center. Enjoy!