I have posted before on this beautiful bulb, and it might even be considered unfair to keep teasing readers, since I don't have any bulbs available. I used to keep my Pamianthe in my office, but moved them to the greenhouse when I set up a bench with a heated pad. I use this bench for most of my bulbs that are not used to cold nights, so the bulbs from the lowlands of Peru or from Brazil are kept there, and they are doing well.
We have had horrible weather for the past six weeks with one storm front after another sweeping through, and, not surprisingly, we have lost electricity from time to time. Worrying about my Pamianthes late one night when the electricity failed again, I went out in a raging storm to bring them in to my office, carefully wrapping the emerging buds. I have moved the others back, but kept the blooming ones in the office, and I am greeted in the early morning by their heavenly scent.
Last year I got no pollen from the flowers, and this year too the anthers appear dried up. I think I might have got some pollen this year, but I don't understand what is happening to the anthers. Pamianthe will accept their own pollen, so I have hope of seeds. Seed takes about 15 months to ripen (it really does), so even if I get seed it will be a very long time before I have any seedlings available. The bulbs do offset, and I am including a picture showing the offsets, and also a photograph to show how they grow almost horizontally. In nature they would be growing as epiphytes on tree branches, extending their beautiful flowers like trumpets to attract night flying pollinators. Those pollinators must have very long tongues, since the bloom can measure a good 10 inches (25cm).
www.telosrarebulbs.com