This is how to save your shirts, walls, carpet and skin.

THAT is a big promise! But I think I can help you.

We can't seem to go a week here without hearing "I love lilies, but I HATE all of the mess they make". What a shame! Lilies (and we're talking about Oriental Lilies), are long lasting, fragrant, and fill a space fabulously!

But, you're right. Lilies, without the right kind of loving, can make a dreadful and long lasting mess.

NEVER FEAR!
If you have brushed past your open lilies and managed to ruin your (what is almost inevitably a favourite) shirt, this blog is for you.
If you have a little mark on your white carpet from stepping on, and grinding in, some lily pollen, this blog is for you.
If you have somehow managed to skim your face by your lilies while carrying them across the room, only to find out three hours later (several face to face conversations are likely to happen in this time...) that you are dusted in a delicious shade of gold (not that this has happened to ANY of us here!), this blog is for you.

With just the teeniest bit of maintainance, you can actually prevent all of the above DISASTERS happening, and start enjoying those gorgeous Oriental Lilies once again!

We all know that in bud form, there's nothing to worry about - it's those cheeky stamens, full of pollen that we need to watch out for.

As the lily opens up, we're given the first glimpse of the stamens. At this point, they're harmless*, you can hold them without turning orange! As you can see in the photo, they're tightly wrapped up. (The two on the right are juuust starting to unravel a bit, you can see the colour difference).

(These were plucked from a lily as soon as it started to open).

As our lilies open up further, the stamens start to unwrap themselves, and this is where we run into trouble. On the inside is the loose pollen, which is what makes all the mess. You can see in the photo that it's a gradual process.

(These were plucked from a lily on the second day it was opening).

Finally, once the lilies are completely open, the stamens have completely unwrapped themselves, exposing HEAPS of pollen. There are six stamens on every lily. There are two or three flowers on every stem. There are five stems in a bunch. That's NINETY capsules of pollen, waiting to dust your clothes, carpet, face... everything!!!

(These were plucked from a lily on day three).

So, how do we prevent this pollenicious disaster? By acting early.

Once you can see the stamens, as your lilies begin to open, you want to try and pluck them out. We use our fingers; you don't need to cut them, as they come off nice and easily. We just wait until the flower is open enough that we don't have to squash the petals to get to the stamens!

The following is how we do it here (I know, the lilies are quite open, but it made photographing the HOW much easier!).



I hope this has been a helpful little post, and I'm looking forward to people getting excited about lilies (without the impending doom of all that mess!). If you know anyone who's been attacked by pollen, I'd love for you to share this with them too.

If you've got any floral questions for us, just shoot me an email (flowers@redfragrance.com.au), and I'll try and answer it here as best I can.

See you soon!

Charlie x.

*Lilies are actually very harmful (and can be fatal) to to cats. If you're a cat owner, even if you're extra great at stamen-plucking, lilies (oriental/tiger/asiatic/november...) are not the flower for you.