If you were recently gifted with a great big bouquet of flowers, one of the side effects of all those pretty flowers and great smells is that the pollen tends to fall off the flowers as they wilt. If you got a pollen stain from a bouquet of flowers on your upholstery, here is what you need to do to get rid of it.

#1 Vacuum Up The Loose Pollen

The first thing that you need to do is vacuum up the loose pollen. However, you should not use your regular push vacuum cleaner to clean up the pollen. Instead, you should use either the vacuum hose itself or a handheld vacuum. You want to hold the vacuum or hose above the pollen so that it gets lifted up, off the material. Using a push vacuum cleaner increases the chance that the pollen will get rubbed into the upholstery further.

#2 Use Tape To Grab Leftover Pollen

Take some regular scotch tape and wrap it in a circle with the sticky side facing outward. Put a few fingers inside of the circle of tape and use it to gently grab up the pollen from the carpet. Do not use the same area of tape twice—turn the tape each time you bolt so that you don't re-transfer any of the pollen back onto the upholstery.

#3 Blot With Rubbing Alcohol

If the pollen is still visible, put a little bit of rubbing alcohol onto a white paper towel. Take the paper towel and start at the outside edge of where the pollen is located and bolt at the stain, picking up the pollen as you work your way inward. Like with the tape, use a new area of the paper towel each time you blot so that you don't transfer pollen back onto the upholstery.

#4 Work Away With Shaving Foam

If you can still see the pollen, put a little bit of white shaving foam onto the pollen stain and gentle scrub at the spot. This should lift up any remaining pollen. Use a different cloth to remove the foam from your upholstery.

#5 Rinse With Cold Water

Finally, clean and rinse the area with a little cold water. You only need to use a small amount of water, since you don't want to make your upholstery soggy, which could lead to mold and mildew. This will remove any cleaning agents you used and ensure that the pollen is gone.

If you follow the steps above, you should be able to remove the pollen stain from your upholstery. Assess your upholstery after you complete each step; if the pollen stains are already gone, you don't need to complete the rest of the steps in the sequence. If the stain is stubborn, consider using an upholstery cleaning service like Atlantic Carpet Care.