Rick, I made the cut close to the stigma because at the time I really didn't know (any better). All I knew was what I was told or heard somehere along the line back then, was that sometimes pollen grains may be too large for pollenation. And cutting close behind the stigma (I thought) would give me a larger surface area and larger tube opening to work with. So, I thought I'd give it a try since previous attempts by conventional methods didn't work. Now you've added a couple more good ideas and they may give clues as to why I had (in my case) limited success--so, real good information to know and apply!
Here, then, is the one I wanted to incorperate a higher bud count and better infloresence to: the pod parent.
A7
And this is the one I used as the pollen parent:
A9
I don't have many pictures of the A7 plant overall. The individual flower color, form, and substance are outstanding as is it's extremely long drapping foliage. It's drawbacks are it's short rhombus infloresence and low bud count of four or five. The flower is horn shape about 8 inches long with slightly longer style ( a clue?). In the ten years or so that I've had this plant it has never divided or offset. I have some growing from a 2009 effort so hopefully this year I'll have something from that. This year I let it open pollenate because next fall I plan to lift and scale. You can tell by the A-alpha, these go back to my early days. Both of these plants were given to me from an estate sale of whom I became more and more convinced over time must also have been a cross pollenator/seeder.
Edit added: Also, at the time, I was pollenating with the theory that when it came to flower color--it would most likely favor the pod parent--something I now agree with you on; it more than likely would be a blend of both parents. That's why I kept working in one direction only. This year I did a reverse and got a few good seeds--we'll see.
