Help... Winter Lily Pollen Stains!

'Zambesi' - Fresh white flowers & pollen just beginning to "open".

Note from Dianna: 

Kathy, a gardener who loves her lilies in the greater Seattle area, sent us an email in November asking for help with pollen stains on her wool sweater.  A day later, when asked if she could write a short story and document the pollen removal with photos, she reported that even after a a single day of exposing the fabric to sunshine, the stain had already shrunk too much to make dramatic photos. 

Good work, Kathy!

(All photographs by B&D Lilies.)

Kathy's "Winter" Lily Pollen Report

"Here I am in the kitchen cooking away with a beautiful vase of lilies on the counter. They smell so wonderful. Now, I've heard pollen does not come out of fabric and I should be cutting off the anthers where the pollen dust sits. Problem is, I've also been told the fragrance is emitted from the anther. True, False, I don't know. For this story it's true because that's the reason I had not cut the anthers off.

Back to dancing around the kitchen because I'm cooking a great dinner for a special person. As I dip and turn I realize I'm close to brushing up against the lily, I panic and try to dodge it, but my arm sweeps by the anthers getting covered across the whole upper arm. I immediately take the wool sweater off and flush it with water with nothing happening. Adding dish soap and rubbing between my hands only makes it spread. I stop. Ring it, pat it, and PANIC!

I run to the computer to hunt for any information on the web. Everyone recommended the sun on a sunny day. They also had fabric like cotton and linen. I have wool, it's winter and I live in the Pacific Northwest, which means no sun.

Taking a chance. I put the sweater in a single pane window that had morning light, not sun light. Next afternoon when I had time to get back to the sweater the spot looked a little diminished. As it set in the window over the next month little by little the spot has disappeared.

Lessons:

1. The sun works on materials of cotton, linen, wool and probably many others
2. Natural Light over a longer period of time works too.
3. The fragrance comes from the anther, pistil and even the petals.
4. Don't touch the area that was brushed by the anthers. Let it dry and brush it off in a day or two with a soft brush. Tape also works if you don't have a brush."

Further Notes from Dianna

'Corcovado' OT - anthers "closed", Style moist.

• When a lily flower first opens, the anthers are moist and tightly closed.  As the day progresses, they unfurl, exposing the pollen grains.

• Petal tips have the greatest concentration of fragrance oils, so sniff the edges of a fully opened flower for the best scent.  The center of the lily, where the reproductive parts are located, can be removed without any loss of perceived fragrance. 

• The "Style", which ends in a three part "knob" and drips sweet-tasting stigmatic fluid, also exhibits light scent, and in the case of a large purebred Oriental lily, can sometimes plentifully run down the bottom petal.  This sticky protrusion helps to hold the pollen from other varieties tightly to the Style, as hummingbirds, bees and other insects brush against it. This is how new hybrids are created from the resulting seed—produced later in the summer between compatible plants, if the growing season is favorable.

Can you see the pollen grains? (Hint: Look at the texture.)

• Pollen is generally sticky, even when "dry", which is the reason why you should never try to brush pollen off with your hand; the natural oils present on your skin will smear and "set" the pollen into fabric, or simply beautify your skin with a lovely orange-yellow cast.  

• If pollen is on your skin, such as an arm, flicking a soft cloth or brush on the grains can generally remove it.  In the field, we've used the end of a clean tractor towel to knock the pollen off jeans, not nearly as effective as a brush, but good for emergencies.

• It is a simple thing to gently pull off the dangling anthers with your fingers before they fully open, or use a tissue to remove open ones and keep your fingers from turning yellow.  With a dry artist brush, you can sweep off any dropped pollen grains on the petals to tidy the flower, but only if the petals and pollen are dry.  Lily pollen grains are generally too sticky and large to blow around upon the wind, so generally do not affect those with sensitivities to spring and summer pollen, and for those of us with fragrance allergies, unscented lilies are generally preferred for indoor use. 

'Little Yellow Kiss'

'Miss Lucy'

'Polka Dot' - a Spring 2014 Introduction.

• Don't want to go to the bother of picking off pollen to bring the stems indoors for vases?  Choose one of the pollen-free varieties, such as 'Little Yellow Kiss' (Asiatic) or one of the fluffy and fragrant Double Orientals for your home.  The anthers are either not completely formed—hidden completely inside the petals—like 'Miss Lucy' or do not naturally produce a significant amount of pollen beyond a few grains.

What's happening underground this winter?

Lily bulb regenerating in October.

Lily bulbs are in a constant state of growth; even during the winter months new basal plate roots are expanding, bulblets (offshoots) are growing larger, but most important, the center of your lily bulb is continuing to regenerate for its next flowering period.  

Sometimes it is easy to see the transformation because more of the bulb is spent to grow a stem with some cultivars.  The bulb shown is a perfect example - notice the two different colors of scales?  The outside purple-brown scales were part of the "original" bulb; you can see that during flowering, most of the nice fat bulb planted the previous fall or in early spring had shrunk to only a few outside scales, consuming the center in order to grow a stem.  The backside of this bulb (not shown) was where the stem had emerged for flowering in July.  The new bulb began forming when the flowers were finished, emerging from the basal plate, (bottom) along with a couple of new bulblets that will be exact duplicates of the original.  


Of the three prime necessities for a sustainable lily garden—well drained soil, sunlight and fertilizer—some folks begin to become a little forgetful when it comes time to help the lilies prepare for next year's flowers. 

If your soil was prepared well before planting to be soft and fluffy—even if an application of fertilizer is missed a couple of times—lilies will extract what food they can from their surrounding soil to flower the next year.  If no fertilizer or annual top dressing of compost is provided, lily bulbs will tend to become smaller each year and finally disappear completely. 

Spreading POOpeas around the stems.

Feed your lilies for bigger and better flowers each year.

We recommend two feedings a year—once when the sprouts are just emerging in spring and the stem roots are beginning to grow—then again when the flowers are beginning to open and the stored food within the lily bulb is depleted.  You can either use a commercial formula or mix your own elements for an organic approach.  Remember that lilies like balanced feeding, too much nitrogen will grow lovely green leaves, but at the expense of good flowers.  A "blooming" formula (e.g. 0-20-0) encourages flowers, but nitrogen and potash are still needed to grow new bulb scales. 

Lilies are heavy feeders, but they only need fertilizer spread during the times of rapid growth or roots can be damaged.  Slow release fertilizer (worked into the top 2 inches of soil) generally only works when soil temperatures reach a certain degree, and usually after the stems are already tall, missing the first milestone.  Time release is better in containers than open garden, because potting soil stays warmer during active growth, but because the volume of soil used is constricted and pots are watered more frequently, it is harder to judge the amount of fertilizer needed.

What if you've forgotten?

• If you've missed spreading fertilizer during flowering in an established lily garden, do put an inch or two of compost or well-aged manure where the stems were produced this summer, even if your soil is completely frozen when you remember. 
• For newly planted September to December bulbs, mixing fertilizer at the bottom of the planting hole is generally wasted over winter.  It is the roots produced in spring between the top of the lily bulb and the soil surface (stem roots) that are expecting the food at the proper times, not below the bulb.  Organic material spread on the soil surface takes a year or more to completely break down, and so is a better choice during planting time in October and November.
• Since everything the lily needs to bloom is already present in the bulb and is depleted during the process of making a stem and flowers, fertilizer you apply during the spring and summer is for the next season's bloom.  If your soil is on the poor side naturally, not fertilizing will compromise next season's flowers—so it is important to always be thinking ahead.  Missing a few meals will not hurt, but for long term health, a regular fertilization program of twice a year is preferred.

Guidelines for Winter Protection of Lily Bulbs

Cold Winters - Midwest & Northeast
Although moderate climates only require enough mulch to reduce winter weed germination, colder climates need a bit more attention. In colder areas of Wisconsin, Minnesota and other Northern Tier States, gardens can experience very cold temperatures with frost levels greater than 5 feet and without enough snow cover to prevent the loss of rose bushes, trees, shrubs and other “above ground” plants. Protecting lily bulbs under such trying conditions is easy if the ground is properly mulched.  In the severe winter climates you MUST place an insulating layer of straw, ground leaves or other material over all Trumpet, Oriental, OT Hybrids or species where gardens are subject to deep freezes (generally colder than -10o F.), this is especially true if a good snow cover is lacking or not expected. Asiatics do not usually need extra protection, but all other lily bulbs in the Midwest, Northeast or Mountain states should be covered for protection.

In early Spring, remove the mulch in layers as the ground thaws and warms, to evaporate rainfall (or snow melt) as quickly as possible.

Too much sudden moisture can cause your bulbs and sprouts to rot. If lilies are planted at the top of a ridge or small hill, frost will not settle on the plants, so those areas may get by with less mulch  Avoid soggy, wet areas as well as low spots where frost will be heavier in winter.  A good layer of mulch may consist of 8 to 12 inches of straw or hay, tree boughs or other fluffy material. Avoid compacted, whole leaves or wet grass clippings because these have the potential to hold too much moisture around your underground bulbs and the sprouts will rot in spring if you do not remove the mulch fast enough. Shredded leaves are better because they allow air movement and are easier to remove in spring.


Wet Winters - Southern & Coastal States
In mild climates, be very CAREFUL about mulching newly planted bulbs if you were affected by an unusual amount of rainfall last winter or spring, that resulted in your garden becoming overly saturated.  Lily Bulbs by their very nature are designed to store water for times of drought; plant on a slope or in a slightly raised bed to avoid flooding—they do not swim well and will suffocate if the soil stays constantly soggy over winter.  Moisture replenished from rainfall on a daily basis is OK just as long as it is draining away quickly and not sitting stagnant.  During cold and wet springs, a thick mulch over lily bulbs may cause the sprouts to decompose while still underground or as they begin to emerge. (See Fungus: Stump Rot (Phytophthora) on our website under “Problem solving - Animals to Weeds”.) In moderate/mild Southern and Coastal areas, use only enough mulch (one or two inches) to suppress winter weed germination, especially if this winter is expected to be wetter than normal.

During very moist winters, if the soil surface is not allowed to dry between rainfalls and the garden remains saturated, you will risk losing even established bulbs. 

Use a porous mulch (e.g. straw or large nuggets of bark) will allow your soil to breathe and dry faster. Go easy on compost; only an inch or two on top of the soil is recommended per year.  Your goal is not deep freeze protection as in the Midwest or Northern states, but rather a tidier garden.

Gardeners in maritime areas of the Pacific Northwest, that are subject to large amounts of heavy rainfall over winter and into June, need to be especially careful about using bark, shredded leaves or other decorative materials in winter.  Add a new layer to your garden in spring after wet snow and/or heavy rainfall has diminished and just before the new weed seeds begin to germinate, which will keep the garden looking good all next summer.  It is important to allow the soil surface to dry properly between storms. For good looks, freshen your mulched garden in June, after the wet and cold weather has settled and the days have become drier.



NEW - Alaska & Gardens at High Elevation
(Not printed in the Planting Guide.) Planting in the garden is preferable (See Midwest & Northeast Instructions above), but customers in the far north sometimes pot up lily bulbs for winter and keep them in a colder area until spring.  These instructions are important should the soil suddenly freeze too hard and deep before our bulbs can be harvested and mailed in mid October.  Strategies include placing lily bulbs planted in pots with moist—not saturated soil—in the crawl space under their house or wrapping them in pink fiberglass insulation in an attached, cold garage or protected shed over winter.  A heavy cover of insulating snow also helps to moderate the temperature so that the soil surrounding the pots slowly freezes around them.  Quick freezes or freeze-thaw conditions all winter will leave lily bulbs looking like a frozen, thawed onion—limp and not viable.

Do not store pots in a greenhouse or root cellar that stays warm over winter OR is allowed to experience quick freeze-thaw conditions.

Lily bulbs need 8 to 10 weeks of cold, preferable below 35 degrees F. to reset themselves for bloom the next summer.  If they do not have enough cold treatment, they will either emerge weak and spindly or simply grow leaves and not bloom.  Should pots be stored in an greenhouse that stays constantly over 40 degrees day and night, the bulbs will also not bloom well either.  Modern hybrids are derived from wild lilies in temperature climates, where the soil slowly freezes deep over a period of time or the soil regularly only freezes a few inches below the surface each winter.  If stored in an unheated greenhouse, where the temperatures drop below freezing at night, but warm up to above freezing on sunny days, the freeze-thaw will compromise the integrity of your lily bulbs and they will most likely rot before spring.

Your goal is to allow soil surrounding the lily bulbs to slowly freeze.  We do the same in our winter coolers.  Wet peat surrounding the bulbs is frozen solid, which in turn slightly freezes the lilies in place and mimics a natural winter.  They stay in this dormant frozen state with proper hydration and the cooler air temperature is just a degree above freezing, until the cases are removed and prepared for shipping across the USA in April.  This is not something you cannot do at home, because the lilies need to be in a large block of soil/bulbs (about 45-50 pounds) to be protected and the air temperature is dropped only a few degrees each week.  Home freezers are designed to freeze solidly to zero or below within a few hours, which would turn the lily bulb to mush upon thaw.

Planted in a well-drained garden, soil freezes at a slower rate and acts as a buffer.  If you are lucky to have a good snow cover as well, your sleeping bulbs are quite happy.  If in those odd years of either no snowfall or snow that comes and goes over winter,  a thick mulch (foot or so deep) of shredded leaves, cut evergreen branches, bark or other insulating material is in order.  Avoid whole, large leaves (like Bigleaf Maple) because they will tend to mat down and become slimy.  Remove the layers as the snow melts to allow soil to slowly warm and wake up your lilies.

Also see:  Hardiness for bulb types and a brief Planting Guide for bulb depth on this Blog.

Planting Lily Bulbs on their side... for Water Control?

Has anyone ever suggested to you that lily bulbs should be planted on their sides to "keep them from filling up with water" over winter in heavy clay soil?  Does it work?


Physiology of a Lily Bulb

When lily bulbs are dug, and where the old flowering stem was located, you can see a neat and tidy "hole".  Lily bulbs are composed of overlapping "scales" attached at the basal plate (bottom of bulb).  Water washes through the lily bulb to the roots, which is sort of like a kitchen bowl with a crack in the bottom—it holds water for a period of time, but eventually the water completely leaks away. 

Lily Bulbs do not swim well.

• Your goal is to have water move freely and quickly from the soil immediately surrounding the bulbs, so they will not be subject to rotting over winter and early spring. 

• Sluggish drainage—caused by tightly packed clay soil—creates saturated soil for an extended period of time, which results in a depletion of oxygen and danger of loss over winter/spring.  

• Frequent heavy rainfall with fast draining soil provides oxygen to the plant tissues, which is not a problem in sandy loam because the water drains quickly away from the bulb itself.  

• Planting lilies on their sides into clay-based soil still doesn't do anything to improve the drainage, you will still have over-saturated soil. 

• Digging a larger-than normal hole in clay soil, then refilling it with commercial potting soil doesn't work either—the hole acts as a slump and quickly fills with water. 

The solution for clay-based soil is a slightly raised wide mound or berm, where the bulb is above natural ground level.  The lily roots may penetrate further below and into the natural clay, but the bulb itself stays drier.
 

What is going on underground?

There's more going on under the soil surface than most people ever suspect.  While being tractor-planted, many bulbs will either land upside down in the soft soil, or sideways.  Lilies have "contractile roots" on the bottom of the bulb, which helps to anchor the lily from upheaval by wind.  They will frequently turn themselves right side up as the new roots grow deeper into the soil, but some may take another year to become fully upright. 

In the photo below, the roots on the left are contractile basal plate roots.  Do you see how thick they are?  The ones growing above the bulb are stem roots, which being just under the soil surface, take up nutrients, the reason why fertilizer is spread on top of the soil, not mixed into the bottom of the planting hole.  Basel plate roots can persist from year to year, stem roots are grown new each year with the new stem.  By the way, there is no need to wash transplanted bulbs before planting, this photo was just to clearly show the two kinds of roots.  Tiny bulblets—offshoots of the original—will nest within the tangle of roots, if that variety is so inclined and make new, full-sized bulbs for you within a few years.

Not all lily bulbs produce stem bulblets.  Some, like this Orienpet, just keep getting bigger until they divide into two.

The next photo shows an Asiatic lily that was laying on its side when planted (in spring), and the sprout traveled underground for over a foot before turning up to make a stem above ground.  The rock on the right is there to prop it up and show how the now-browned stem emerged from the soil. Had it been planted upright to begin with, the plant would not have expended as much energy underground, and would probably have had a taller stem with more flowers that year. 

Digging this one was a chore, the stem just kept going off into its neighbors.

The Bottom Line

Correct any poor draining soil and put the bulb, so the roots are downward, with no need to put them on their sides.  Even if you make a mistake and accidentally plant them upside down, the stems will still find their way to the sunshine.


Related Blog Postings: 
Semi-automated Planting of Lily Bulbs
Clay Soil and Lily Bulbs
Bulbs planting upside down?  No Worries.
When Mother Nature is Generous with Rainfall

Photo Instruction for Dividing a Lily bulb.

Lily bulb that produced two flowering stems over summer.

See how the original easily separates into two bulbs?

One of the questions that comes up when folks want to divide overgrown clumps of lily bulbs is where do I "cut" them? 

No cutting is necessary, because lilies actually are quite easy to divide. 

Look for a natural division where two bulbs are attached to each other.






 When a lily bulb is ready to divide, a simple pulling apart of the bulb is all it takes.  If you find resistance, don't try to force them, simply replant and let them wait for another season and two stems will emerge from each side.

After dividing, both bulbs will be flattened on one side, but each half is a self contained, flowering size bulb.  The one on the left has the bottom of the stem attached, the other stem fell out during harvest.

Let the bulbs air dry for an hour before planting back.

Two bulbs are now ready to plant, each with their own set of roots.

The hens in the background are part of our free-range chicken flock and were very interested in what I was doing.  Of course, that just simply means they were trying to determine whether or not any tasty corn (scratch) was involved.  Nope, not this time, and so they wandered off to check out the goose pen.

You do not have to be exact, this is just a guideline.

Plant your lilies back at approximately the same depth they were growing.  One and one half times the height of the bulb (up and down, not around) is the proper depth of the hole. 

This bulb is about 2 inches tall, so the hole will be about 6 inches deep, with about 4 inches of soil covering the lily bulb.

See the flattened side on each bulb?

If lily bulbs are ready to naturally divide on their own, we split them while they are being dug and cleaned, which is only one of the ways we propagate our lilies. 

Occasionally, we get a phone call that someone received "only half of a bulb", because one side was flattened.  Those may look a bit odd, but the lily is certainly a mature bulb, because it had already flowered that season.





Don't worry if you have one of these in your order, everything the lily needs for blooming next summer is already neatly packed inside.

How and When to Dig Lily Bulbs

Just a few yellow green leaves are left here.

Do you need to move lily bulbs out of the way of new construction, or have they outgrown their spot?  The best time to transplant lilies is when the leaves have turned from green to brown because at that time it is certain the bulbs have matured enough to safely dig. 

See how the leaves have mostly all turned brown in the photograph?  These bulbs have fully regenerated and are ready to go through their winter dormant period.  If dug too early in late summer, the bulb's are soft and can be easily damaged, plus it may be too small to flower next summer if they have not been enough given time to build themselves back up.

You can carefully dig when the leaves have all turned from green to yellow, but by waiting just a week or two more, when all the energy is safely stored, it will make a difference in the number of flowers produced next summer.

Don't begin digging too close to the stem or you risk cutting the lily bulb.

Carefully, position your shovel or garden fork about 4 inches away from the stem and dig down 7 to 8 inches to the side.  If you planted properly, the lily bulbs should be at least that deep, but if a clump of stems is older and overgrown, the bulbs may be closer to the surface, especially if yearly weeding has pulled away some of the soil.

Using the stem as a "handle", gently lift the bulb and root ball.  Pull excess soil from around the bulb with your fingers, or you can simply wash the bulb in a bucket of water, which is messier—but also effective.

The circle is where the stem roots are located.  The red line shows how deep the bulb was planted.  Not all bulbs will produce bulblets underground, but this bulb was only planted in the past spring, so it was still "settling in".

Use an old pair of hand pruners or a serrated kitchen knife if you have rocky/sandy soil.

Clip off the stem if it does not "fall off" easily on its own.  Green stems are still firmly attached inside the lily bulb and by yanking the stem out of the bulb, you risk damaging the center of the lily—opening up the bulb to decay and loss over winter.  Lily stems are attached by a "hook" and if the stem is too green, that hook will tear out the inside of the bulb.  Harvest any bulblets that were produced along the stem—inside the stem roots— or at the base (basal plate or bottom) of the lily and plant those separately. 

Bulb harvested and ready to plant back into the garden.

Plant back ASAP because lily bulbs do not have a hard exterior such as Daffodils or Tulips and they will dehydrate quickly if left unprotected by soil or other means.  In fall, we layer the bulbs in moist wood shavings until it is time to package and ship them to you, but without proper equipment for storage, try not to let them stay out of the ground more than a day or so.  In general, it is always best to dig the receiving hole before starting any transplanting project, even a couple of days earlier will be easier on you back and better for your bulbs, perennials, shrubs or trees. 

Related Posts:  Emergency Transplanting-Summer, Low Cost Ways to Increase your Lily Garden, Lily Companion Plants, Stem Roots, Mulching Lily Bulbs for Winter,