My first AOS award, I was very exited. It is named after my flatulent son who lived with me at the time and admired the putrid smell of the flowers. At that time the AOS did not recognize the plant as B fletcherianum and even though the rest of the world did, called them B spiesii. The award was changed to spiesii. Since then the AOS has come to their senses and the plant is again called B fletcherianum world wide.

I remember rebelling against that name and talking, amongst others, to David Banks from Australia. 'I don't give a rat's tail feathers if the Yanks call it Englebert Humperdinck' he said, 'for me it will always be fletcherianum'. And it shall be fletcherianum for everyone again.

It's not a frequent bloomer, every 2 to 3 years, no more. It has a bud now and for me that is always very exiting as I love that plant. The longest leaf is now over 4' long, they can get up to 6'. Flowers, all 30 to 40 of them, should be here in 3 to 4 weeks.

Nick