Snarfie,

Charisma is very fertile, If you wish to put lets say.. vittatum pollen on Charisma I should think that would take, And, of course Charisma will self very easily.

The thing you have to be aware of with Charisma is that the pollen sacs tend to open before the flower is open enough for you to get in there and remove them and in my Charismas the stigmas are shorter than other varieties and they can get contaminated very easily. The worst that can happen is that you will end up with a self. But if you're really serious about something other than a self with Charisma you've got to get in there and remove those anthers BEFORE they open. Of course this should be done for all pollinating but with Charisma it is particularly hard.

Unfortunately in my experience Sweet Lilian is extremely particular but I didn't try to self one that I can remember but I had 3 scapes as well with a total of 13 flowers and not one took, and I tried everything. But of course I did not try Charisma or vittatum...

My reticulatums (Mrs Garfield and stratifolium) have never flowered.

You usually get 4 or 5 flowers on Charisma so you might try one of every pollen you have.

Also, just remember if your vittatum is in full bloom and you haven't removed the anthers you run the risk of a self even if you've put another pollen on it.

I hope I haven't confused you...

Keep us posted when you get some viable seedpods....

Donna