Peter,
Yes there are always those who "don't follow the rules". It makes life tougher for those who do. No system is perfect and even when Peter Mitchell was registrar people ignored him regularly. Hiding the pedigrees always made me laugh! Of course as you well know, even if you make the same cross the chances of getting something similar to your hybrid is fairly slim. As Lynn can tell you, in some of my seedling rows the variety even from a single cross is amazing. the 'Killer' X 'Jungle Shadows' group was amazingly diverse. i almost made that cross again as there so many pretty ones but rather decided to cross some of the Killer and Jungle Shadow seedlings with each other. Think that could be even more amazing.
Of course registration is not the only reason for a society. Things like having an award system, judging standards, plus a place to put out new information on these plants is what keeps these societies together. And of course there is a lot of Sempervivum history that is known only by a few of us old timers that will be lost forever unless it's put to paper. I know Lynn and Cynda were fascinated with my collection of the SFAN and Sempervivum Society publications and how many things of interest were in them.
Several have been twisting my arm to do a book. Maybe it's time for one.
Kevin
