Today we celebrate one our fragrant monster plants. James gives some scale here to our plant which has over 40 spikes opening, each with around 80 flowers.

The flowers are really fragrant with a smell has been described by visitors as ‘lovely’, ‘horrible’ and ‘weird’ reflecting its rather odd and hard to pin down fragrance. I rather like the scent which is reminiscent of grass and toilet cleaner – but nicer than that makes it sound.

Interestingly the flowers come out green and over a few days change to a golden yellow.

The species is native to the Philippines where it grows in mossy forest from 1600 to 2000m and we find it appreciates heavy watering throughout the year and it enjoys conditions in our Warm Asia section although it would grow cooler. It grows quickly into a sizeable plant and is a really rewarding species to grow.