Lilies

[StealthPolarBear]

Awful flowers. Someone bought me some as part of a bigger arrangement last week which was very kind. We left them over the weekend, I walked in last night and my eyes started streaming (I have no allergies bu dh does!) They're the predator of flowers.
I've beheaded the ones that hadn't opened and castrated the ones that have and this morning the room seems almost back to normal.

YANBU I have no allergies and in general love flowers, but I absolutely cannot stand the smell of lilies and they make me sneeze my head off if I get too close. Horrible things.

Into can’t bear the smell of them. It is also strong and lingers and fills the house. I think they are beautiful living, not a good cut flower.

They make me and dh really ill.

Can’t bear them.

Yep. They stink the whole house out!

I worship lilies, they were the centerpieces at my wedding. Got a cat too and all it takes is making sure all the pollen gets removed tout de suite. He never had any issues with it. I have them in the garden too and the cats simply avoid that corner. Best cat poo repellent known and this enabled a little hedgehog family to raise their family in peace this year. I second the sellotape clothes pollen removal and add zoflora, removes it like springing chalk off the school board.

Oh I love lilies!! I haven’t had them in the house since I got my cat though

I'm the same @StealthPolarBear. They trigger an asthma attack when open.

I now gently prise them open and wearing gloves, carefully cut the sternums off, before putting them in a vase.

Before I'd worked this out, they used to go straight to the outside bin.

I’m allergic to Lilies and ended up in hospital with breathing problems when I was given about 12 bouquets containing them at one point in my life (long story, but my house was like a flower shop). After 3 days of having them in my house (at this point I didn’t know I was allergic) I ended up totally unable to breathe and was blue lighted to hospital where I was given adrenaline.

Every year around Eastertide our church has a flower festival and one very generous person with more money than sense donates £2000 worth of Lilies to the festival because of the symbolism and the fact that they are her favourite flowers. They are there for 3 to 4 weeks and there have been many complaints from members of the congregation who have breathing difficulties due to lily pollen. I was always embarrassed to say as I thought it was quite rare. The person who buys the flowers knows that I’ve ended up in hospital due to a lily allergy as other parishioners have told her. She’s even spoken about it face to face with me and said “ah that’s a shame, but look they are so pretty and smell so beautiful!”. I have no choice but to be there as I run a group for vulnerable people several times a week in the church. Otherwise I’d stay away for the month.

This year it was especially bad as the weather was so hot and the pollen seemed to affect people especially badly. As I understand it, 15 people complained to the reverend either verbally or in writing. Most of the complaints were about the breathing difficulties members of the congregation were having but also some about the fact that the woman has been doing this for 15 years now and £30000 could have been given to charities given that we live in a city especially affected by austerity. He confided to me he didn’t like it either and felt much along the same lines but he couldn’t physically make her stop.

She knows that some people have to actively avoid going to that church for the month of the flower festival because the lilies make them ill. But they are so pretty and that trumps everything.

I can only think of them as funeral flowers. They seem very out of place outside this setting.

surely the lilies in churches used at Easter etc are the white lillies that tend to be used also for funerals? not sure of the name but the lilies that smell are the pink star gazer lillies? they are the ones i really like

Sure its Lillies, not lilies.

@labazsisgoingmad White lillies definitely smell too. I’m allergic to all lily pollen, not just the stargazers.

Absolutely hate them.
The bloody pollen gets everywhere and stains, and I don't like the smell.

@TabbyMumz Nope, the plural of lily is lilies.

Love them! I have a large bunch in my bedroom right now!

They also smell like piss