This plant was gifted to us by Karen from my Orchid Society. She said she didn't know anything about it, but wished me luck anyway. :)
Our friends Rich and Linda also have one, but haven't seen it bloom in years. They said you can almost see the bloom open, like it's in slow-motion,
and that it has a wonderful scent. I did some searching around the net but couldn't really find any photos that showed the size of the flower, so the photos below have a
20 ounce Coke bottle next to them for scale. From what I could find, these flowers bloom once a year and for only one night. They start when it gets
dark and finish by the time the sun comes out.
The flower opened on Monday, August 7th, which just so happened to by our good friend Rich's birthday. We all went out to dinner and then came home to watch the flower bloom.
I stayed up as late as I could, but when I woke up the flower was already finished.
The fragrance of the flower, to me, smells like "soapy vanilla."