Rebekah ~ Well, since you asked, I made a few crosses in 2018 that I thought had good qualities. Still, when crosses are made, the outcome cannot be predicted accurately. I notice when I look up parentage of irises and find the result unlikely or just something that doesn't resemble either parent.
Sometimes it is a cross with many different fancy irises, and the result is a self or plain one. Rebekah, you are right in wanting to select good qualities, and sometimes that takes several years of growing them to be able to determine the good qualities. So maybe next year I can see if any of the good qualities came through.
As to giving you ideas for irises to cross, there are many award-winning irises that may give you better chances. Many only use Dykes Medal winners in that regard. So then you stand a chance to get a good quality cross. And then some use various irises, and keep crossing them until they get the result of what they are expecting.
Good luck in your adventures!
