You can hardly blame the little stinker, nice flower.

You will have to be earlier next time. I pollinate as the flower is about to open. The nectaries are not developed and the pollen will not be developed, so the little stinkers have little interest in visiting.

The other problem is the little stinkers contaminate pollen.

Are you pollinating this year Doris?

Well, I think I'm too late, Bruce, but I'd like to try my hand at it. I need to learn more about pollinating and hybridizing.

So, if you collect the pollen before it is "ripe" (not sure what the terminology is here), do you have to store it, let it become ready, and then find a parent? 'Splain!

I think the largest problem in hellebore hybridizing is pollen becoming contaminated by insects. Your bee covered with pollen going flower to flower is mixing pollen. The bee will leave pollen from other flowers on the anthers of the flower they have entered. In dry weather and the nod of the flower I would expect the pollen to remain viable for a while, so if you collect this anther you have a mix of pollen. Pollen is very small and clings to everything, the possibility of pollen contamination is great.

To overcome this problem you need to protect the pollen. You can collect anthers that have pollen that will ripen or is ripe early in the morning before the insects are active. I use tweezers and pluck the filament with the anther carefully from the flower. Bring the collected anthers inside and keep dry. Or pick a flower that has opened with anthers that have not burst yet and float in a bowl and collect pollen from this flower. Or protect the flower or whole plant, mosquito netting over the plant or a net baggy around the flower.

You could try to use ripe pollen early before insects are active directly from a flower that is just starting to burst but most often you should wait for the day to warm, this should increase your chances of your cross being a success. When the day warms and the bees are active is the best time to pollinate, the flower should be very receptive at this time of day. Warm dry days are best for pollinating.

OK, you have dry pollen stored inside from early morning or a few mornings past. The pollen has burst, it is very fluffy and clings to anything it comes in contact with. The sun is up and it is mid-morning and the bees are just becoming active. Bring the anther with the ripe pollen out to the plant you have chosen to pollinate. Look for a flower that has not opened yet or has just opened a small bit and will fully open in that day or two. If you hold one tepal and carefully fold back you will be able to see the stigma and the undeveloped anthers inside the flower. The nectaries are not developed well at this time. The stigma is receptive, Helleborus are protogynous, the stigma is receptive before the anthers have ripe pollen on the same flower. I take the anther by the filament with tweezers and tickle the stigma with the anther. Carefully close the flower back to its original shape. I will repeat the cross for three days. I will attempt the first cross as soon as I can force the flower open, being very gentle and without harming the flower. Usually as soon as you can poke tweezers into an opening of the tepals you can open the flower to view the sexual parts. Generally with ripe pollen you can tell that the stigma has received the pollen. The stigma will change and in a few days you should see the carpels change.

The down side of not emasculating and not protecting the flower is if you are not successful the bees will be. You will not know that you have failed.

To emasculate you should remove the anthers before they burst and protect the flower. To remove the anthers is very tedious work and if you protect the pollen and fertilize stigmas on flowers that are unopened or about to open you should have an accurate cross. The other advantage of pollen collecting, you will have dry ripe pollen to use on the flower when the weather and flower are at their best.

Do not forget to tag and take notes. Colored yarn works as a tag, or the small yard sale tags that have the string attached.

I hope this is of help Doris, if any the above needs more of an explanation please ask. Once you have crossed a few you will see the way. Follow the natural rhythm of the plant and take advantage of hellebores reproduction devices, that is you can fertilize the stigma very early, before insects have any interest in the nectaries.
Bruce