There are stories of how breeders try to introduce foreign genes into a cross by applying a mix of pollens from compatible and incompatible parents to the stigma. The idea is that the compatible pollen that easily reaches the ovaries might somehow provide a momentary "backdoor" for incompatible genes to creep in. In my novice years of pollen dabbing, I did this without even realizing it: I would unkowingly attempt incompatible crosses with purely incompatible pollen, but not protect the cross from contamination. Most of the time, no seed pod formed at all, but sometimes they did (with the aid of insects adding compatible pollen). If the seed germinated, results were usually weirdly deformed flowers.
Since I learned about this theory, I still try it, sometimes just on a whim. And I have species that won't cross with anything I have, so sometimes I do it in a desperate attempt to achieve that goal. Different from my original "method", though, I apply both compatible and incompatible pollens equally. This way, I have found, results will be all or mostly normal, with none or few "weird" ones.
So it is with this cross: Sweet Surrender x Olina/L. michiganense. The first thing I noticed was the seeds. Although they were all pretty much the same size, 8 out of 75 seeds had embryos less than half of the normal size. There was no "in-between" sizing, either it was normal length or less than half size. I separated them out and grew both types.
The regular seeds separated into two groups. Ones with upright flowers, 5-6 inches across, orange tints and lightly spotted, like this:
And small 3-4 inch tango types like this:
The darkest one tricks your eyes into thinking it is black!
One bloom so far from the small embryo seeds, about 2.5 inches:
