I would prefer, as many do, that this forum not disintegrate into people bashing that splashes in from social media. There are clearly personality clashes at play here that are clouding judgements. I think it unfair to judge a hybridizing program by the very first introductions made years ago. Clearly, Mr. Best is producing some very unique looks that are both northern hardy and fertile as I saw many seeds being sold this last season on the Lily Auction from seed sellers who made thoughtful crosses and who really liked his latest plants. I thought this was a wonderful step forward in promoting cristate forms. A person does not have to be likeable to have an interesting hybridizing program so I hope we can keep an open mind here. I certainly didn't intend to offend any particular hybridizer with my comment about cristate, dormant forms from northern programs not yet being state of the art.....it was written quite hastily and I should have expanded what I really meant. MANY people are working quite hard to stabilize a "young" form and I expect to see great things soon that are more consistent that takes the form to places it has never been before. The tetraploid area especially has been quite frustrating with more variables, it seems. I love Curt Hanson's work in this area! There are many hybridizers who had admirable programs who are toughing it out thru this frustrating first stab at creating something new!!!
I found Chris' posts very informative and agree that sometime in the future the definition of "cristate" may need a bit of tweaking as forms continue to change. LOVED your "Yes, no, or maybe" post, Maurice!!! It's sad, to me, that Mr. Best's forms cannot be found in simple searches. I was curious on how they were registered and saw that he was describing his "beards" as "appendages" in his registrations. That's an interesting term that I haven't considered before! Appendages might cover those random teeth that appear in the middle of petals some day, too!
