Hi Gabe.. I would tell you to study the catalogs when they come out for ideas most of them will list the pedigree of the plants so you get a idea of what produced something that you like. I also use the ATP database a lot when planning crosses the neat part about it is when you enter the name of a certain plant into the database it will give you a link at the bottom for the registered kids that it has produced, this is helpful because you can see what it has already produced and look for similarities in them. A example would be (Haunted Heart) its pattern is dominant in it's children meaning if I cross it to something else I would expect quite a few of them should have lines on the falls because that is what it has produced so far. This is the kind of information I'm after when planning crosses I want to see what it has already produced this gives me some ideas of what I may get out of it and may save me a lot of time by doing a little research.
I like the advise Paul gave you when selecting plants to cross.. I follow it myself and I try to use the newest plants possible that grow well for me here because I'm interested in finding new colors and patterns then adding lot's of Ruffles to them. The hardest part of the plant to improve is it's form, there is massive compost piles in Oregon and California filled with Plants with Pretty Faces that I would love to have but they were missing something in the form. What I have found is that when you cross 2 plants that are 20 years old together like (Edith) for a example again you are going to repeat work that has already been done .. our database shows ( Edith Wolford) has produced 116 registered kids and as I scroll down through them quite a few look just like it and have the same form and color pattern which leads me to believe that my results would be similar if I were to make crosses with that plant and there is nothing wrong with that if that's what you like but there are hundred's on the market that look just like it that you could buy for a few bucks that would be a lot less work
I am looking for plants that will give me something different to work with look up Barry Blyth's (Decadence) in our database it has produced 178 kids and none of them look the same
or This years Dyke's winner (Gypsy Lord) it has only been on the market since 2006 and has 56 registered kids
in a wide variety of colors and they keep coming and getting better every year
Hope this helps
