National Pollination Day!

Ahh, the grandest holiday of them all! Especially after the uncertainty, the fear the entire event might be canceled this year.

This is the bloom in the pre-dawn hours, waiting to open. (Pollinators set their alarm clocks early on National Pollination Day.)









Now she's open! That white thing is a thermometer - it's gonna be a scorcher.












Lilly admires the male blossoms before we gather the pollen.












Can you see the pollen (it looks like yellow dust) after the petals have been removed?












What a fine-looking 5 lobed flower. 5 lobes, which means there are 10 stalks in there which will make seeds, are slightly preferred over 4 lobed flowers. 5 lobes occur about 50% of the time, maybe a little less.

Get out you stupid bees - that's my job today!







I just use the male flower like a paintbrush to distribute pollen.











Now we'll just hope for the best, it might take 48 hours to know for sure it worked. I'm feeling pretty good about this one though. The milk jugs are full of ice to try to keep things cool.