I enjoyed reading this thread about Richard Norris' daylilies! He's in our Metro Columbus Daylily Society and began attending early on when he started seriously hybridizing daylilies.
We had many discussions and when I say he was "seriously" hybridizing I wish I could tell you how much he said he invested in acquiring breeding stock. I was stunned!!
Suffice it to say that for several consecutive years he bought the entire collections of most of the "major" hybridizers and some smaller ones. He stopped when he started seeing seedlings of his own that were as good or better than any he could buy. Then he began focusing on working with his seedlings which by now filled 3 large fields.,
He started producing successful cultivars early on. He has kept up a steady pace of unique and beautiful introductions since.
He is always interested in new names especially ones with a quirky or humorous twist. If someone suggests a name he uses, he gives them one in the year of introduction.
My husband had the good fortune of inspiring the name of Pigment of Imagination. Showing it to us during a garden visit, Richard was describing the caerulean color that was evanescent, leaving him to wonder what he saw. My husband was reminded of a cartoon about a frustrated painter trying to produce a color a customer wanted, with no success. Finally the painter says "Madame, I think that is a pigment of your imagination!" Richard loved it. My husband happily received the daylily. 😀 We never sold or traded it. We didn't want to compete with him. That would not seem appropriate. We just enjoyed growing this fascinating unique daylily.
Pat
