How to Pollinate Oriental Lilies
Oriental or Asian lilies are beautiful plants that grow from bulbs and require only minimal care. When they bloom, their star-shaped petals display many colors, and they can add striking beauty to any garden. The bulbs, if cared for properly, can grow large clusters of stems, which will sprout many flowers. Once the lilies are established, the bulbs can be dug up, divided and replanted to grow new plants. The flowers themselves are self-sterile and can't fertilize themselves, but they can be pollinated by hand if you have two or more plants. Using this process, you can create a hybrid of two different types of lilies. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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1
Select the plants. Decide which ones will be "mothers" and which will be "fathers." You will use a different part of the plant depending on whether you've designated it a mother or a father.
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2
Remove the anthers from the father flowers. Anthers are the large yellow horizontal growths at the ends of the shoots growing from the middle of the lily; they are coated with pollen. These are the male parts of the plant.
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3
Find the stigmata on your mother lilies. These are the female parts of the plant, and they excrete a sticky substance when the flower is ready for pollination.
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4
Rub a cotton swab or paintbrush along the anthers of your father flower to gather the pollen. Then transfer that pollen onto the sticky stigmata of your mother flower.
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5
Cover the pollinated stigmata with a cap of aluminum foil to protect it from stray pollen, wind and rain.
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Tips & Warnings
Bees and other insects will also pollinate your lilies. However, natural pollination will produce random results.
Don't push too hard with the cotton swab or paintbrush while pollinating the mother flower, or you may damage it.
