Pollinating arborea?

I know this has been mentioned frequently but I'm not sure where to look to remind me.
At what point do you rip open the arborea flower to pollinate? Mine will be opening tomorrow, is this too late?
Thanks, Dennis

Then it will be today or yesterday *lol* Just kidding. I think today will be fine. The trick is that the anthers not has ripen (split open and released pollen). I hope that you will make some nice hybrids :D
Tonny

Hi Dennis, Congrats on your arborea bloom! It mainly depends on what you mean by "open" as most arborea's release their pollen before the Corrola mouth flares open.
I usualy feel the end of the calyx to see if the corrola is getting ready to burst it and if it is I then slice it open and pull off the anthers.
If the Corrola is just peeping through the calyx well then the anthers shouldn't have burst open to realease their pollen yet so it might still be ok.....however, this varys from one Arborea to the next....so to be on the safe side, if a bloom is past this stage just skip it as nearly-ripe arborea anthers often release some pollen just as your trying to remove them and although it may look like no pollen has reached the stigma, it would be difficult to say for sure! If it's your first bloom and you don't want to waste it, put some of it's own pollen on it...atleast that way you'll get something out of it!

Whatever you decided to do I wish yoy the very best of Luck from the Garden of Ireland! :o)

Thanks guys. I decided to just watch this flower. My first arborea flower!

Right choice, Dennis. It flowers continously, so there will be more to come. Its generally a good bloomer, so that would be a shame to rip apart the first one, if its the first one that you have seen. What do you think about its fragrance?
Tonny