I think there's another reason we are seeing fewer new Itoh introductions. While there's still a little room for innovation and work to be done (reds with a measle-free foliage appearance, more purple-toned cvs, stable cultivars with consistent flowers), I think we are at the point of diminishing returns, and we've pretty much seen most of what will result from the Itoh cross. A hybridizer worth their salt won't introduce something unless it provides unique value, and that may be harder to do after several decades of Itoh breeding (just think of how many similar looking orangey yellow Itohs there are; when you get them on a show table next to eachother they look next to indistinguishable). Hybridizers are likely simply moving on.
I meet with Don Smith, who has introduced many great Itohs that grow well here in the cold part of Canada, every month, and he is no longer working on the standard Itoh cross. Instead he is interested in generating advanced generation Itoh hybrids - progeny from Itoh plants which were once thought to be an impossible result. There are a few out there already - check out Maschke's 'Moonwalk'. The interesting thing is that fertility is often restored once you get past the initial hump of the Itoh's reduced fertility and are able to produce a seed from them that actually grows. These are the uncharted waters that are generating a buzz in hybridizing community and where a renewed interest lies. The cross is very difficult with a very low rate of success, but everyone wants to do something new and different, and this makes the results all the more exciting. Hopefully a new generation of plants will be available on the market in the coming years.
