I always cut the stamens with pollen off first. Very often a good florist will also do this for you.
Talking of pollen, my mum's friend swears this is true, though it sounds more like an unrban myth to me.
This friend's husband had died. When she returned home from the funeral she found a big bouquet of flowers left on the doorstep. Obviously there was nobody home when the funeral was on.
The flowers were beautiful, but she couldn't work out who on earth they were from. All the card said, that the florist had attached, was two names, both of whom she'd never heard of. She spent ages trying to remember how she knew them.
She never did find out who Lilly Pollen and May Stain was.
