To the plant, pollination is pollination. To the gardener who wants particular results (such as wanting to keep an heirloom variety pure), cross-pollination (cross-breeding) is something to avoid. To a grower or scientist who is trying to create a new variety, cross-pollination is desirable. It's all on your point of view. Like Dave said, some varieties are very genetically stable, like his Nantes carrots. Others, like curcubits, are notorious for cross-pollinating. If you're growing certain kinds of decorative gourds, and zucchini or other squashes, insects will cross-pollinate them very easily, and if you saved the seeds from your wonderful zucchini and planted them, they could end up being something almost unrecognizable and tasteless. "Does cross pollination always create a hybrid?" Yes and no. Technically, every pollinated plant is producing a hybrid, because every plant from every seed has a tiny, microscopic difference from the plant next to it, although it is, for most purposes, the same. Only cuttings, cloned or tissue-cultured plants are exactly the same as the parent stock. Plants labeled 'hybrids' have been crossed from plants with noticeably different qualities. If you crossed two of these 'hybrids', they would most likely revert back to the qualities of one or the other of the 'parents'. Granny Smith apples came from crabapples. If you planted a Granny Smith seed and nutured it for several years, you would probably end up with some sort of crabapple or similar variation. Two additional bits of info (just to confuse you a little more ;-) ): 1) You can be growing two similar plants near each other, but if they flower at different times, they won't (can't) cross-pollinate. Corn is a good example: there are early, mid-season and late varieties of corn. Corn cross-pollinates easily because it's wind-borne, but if they tassle (the 'flower') at different times and there is no other corn around (esp upwind), they won't cross. If Alfie's apples (above) needed a pollinator variety, and he accidentally planted a variety that bloomed a month after his Macintosh, he wouldn't get any apples. 2) OP varieties can be 'manipulated' even within the variety. You can have a packet of seed of a single variety of an OP plant, and each seed inside will have a tiny difference about it. Many people will grow a particular variety that they like, and they will watch for 'special' ones among that variety: a tiny bit earlier, a slightly larger fruit, a sweeter flavor, a slightly higher yield, etc, and they will mark it and let a few fruits of that plant mature and collect the seed. The next year, they plant that seed, and again look for 'special' plants. Every year, they keep doing this, and end up (hopefully) with localized variety within a named variety that is especially suited to their local conditions. It's still the same variety, it's still OP, it's just an improved variation within that variety. If you bought seeds from a grower in BC, and you bought the same variety from a grower in ON, the local seeds might produce plants that had a slight edge on local conditions, concerning earliness, adaptibility to hot summers, or ability to grow with a bit less water. The seeds from BC might adapt better to cooler summers, more humidity, and a longer season.

It does require a pollinator. I've always heard Yellow Delicious is kind of universally thought of as a pollinator for most other apples too. In fact they make note of that on the Stark Bro's website. Or maybe even a Crab Apple if you wanted to go that way. They're pretty showy too. But it needs something that's close within the flowering group that it's in to pollinate.

Thank you, jenniferl77 and mrimpatiens for the advice. I am going to try getting some seeds tomorrow but I thought I read somewhere that the pod is almost transparent when it is time to pluck them and I haven't seen that,yet. I have seen some pretty fat ones that look ready, but not transparent. I'll give it a try anyway. As for the doubles, I keep trying to find the 'parts' and I can't. I will do some more research and keep trying-I have tons of them. In the meantime, I tried the 'pinch and poke' method with them. I couldn't believe it-I cut a few of the gangly stems and poked them back into the soil and at first they looked like they were not going to make it-but I left them there and now they are standing tall and strong! I am truly amazed. I have some grow lights set up for the winter and I will try taking cuttings for plants for next year. Is it better to root them in water at that point or just stick them back into more soil? I have so many I could try both! Thanks again for the help. I am going to try to post some pics of my flowers soon.

" Will this kill my flowers? " Probably " Will it kill thrips, mites, slugs, etc? " No.....at least not very efficiently. Neem oil or insecticidal soap (not dish soap) can be very effective against sucking insects and will not "burn" foliage if applied very early or late in the day, out of direct sunlight or so the application has fully dried before the heat of the sun. Won't do squat for slugs but a directed organic slug bait - like Sluggo - will do the trick.