I like the deep and dark purples a lot, Betty. Thank you for posting it.

Some more photos of Bob's ....

Kermits Scream



Empire of Desire



Substantial Evidence



Ashwood Summer Sunshine

Love the name of the first and the flower of the last.

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

I had seen this thread, but forgotten it. Nice to reread it, then Pat's addition.

I really enjoyed reading that. I did not know much about Richard Norris. As it happens, I have several children plants of Substantial Evidence (Substantial Substance, Evidence of Light, and So Substantial--Substantially Awesome is a grandchild on both sides) and one of Pigment of Imagination (Endless Pigment), all Brian Reeder's intros. Endless Pigment is a new plant, but according to Brian's website, it inherited the tendency for color change from Pigment of Imagination. I'm really excited to see it bloom.

It was really interesting to find out where these parent plants came from.

Pat, I loved reading your story about Pigment of Imagination! So cool that your husband thought to tell that story to Richard.

Sadly, I went to Richard's website and there are no 2022 intros due to health issues. But his 2021 intro 'Joe Burrow' is totally awesome and he is selling it for a good cause. No pictures in the database yet, but check it out:
http://www.ashwooddaylilies.co...

In 2013, I only had one Norris intro, 'Flight of the Raven'. I still love it just as much as I did then. Now I have four of his intros.

Flight of the Raven (1999)


Clarification (2002) - makes such a beautiful bouquet.


No Blue Oxfords (2004)


Substantial Evidence (2005)

Thanks for the kind remarks!

Perhaps he didn't want this publicly mentioned, I hope it's OK. Sadly, his wife Jan developed a progressive, incurable disease and Richard shut down the business to take care of her. She passed away in January. I saw a pic of Richard at one of the winter symposia, I hope that means he is recovering from his grief, which of course goes back to the first diagnosis. She was a sweet lovely person and they always seemed happy together. We were very sad for both of them. 😢 I haven't tried calling him yet.

We ordered the daylily Joe Burrow as soon as he announced it. The price was higher than usual but so is the daylily ! And all the proceeds are going to food pantries in the poverty stricken areas where he lives in SE Ohio. Joe is 61" high with an 8" flower of vivid yellow with a red eye. The most amazing aspect to me is that this giant is diploid!



If we ever sell it, we plan to continue practicing donating the proceeds to the food pantries.

We grow almost all the ones Juli @daylily mentioned in her first post. Each is beautiful and unique. I agree with Rita @newyorkrita, images don't seem able to capture how lovely Clarification is. It's the purest lavender in our garden. It's better off without yellow bubbly spiky edges. Sometimes the latest trends are not meant to be universal!

As Marilyn @polymerous noted with some regret, daylilies that don't fit his main objectives sometimes pop up, like the 2 polymerous yellows she showed. If they're good, he introduces them with the intention that others can use them.

Some ambitious hybridizers would take these breaks to start new lines of introductions. They'd aim to have a dozen or more new intros a year in a variety of looks. Richard seems content to pursue his main interests. It's not for lack of good material. He probably could easily find a dozen "good enough" ones every year. But that's not his ambition. He only wants to introduce his best. At his rate so far I doubt he will ever recoup the initial investment but money is clearly not what it's about.

This year I was able to track down a DF of 'Sunshine On My Shoulders' which I was pleased to get. I've never set out to hybridize toward a certain a goal but now I want to breed a yellow tet that will rebloom in 5b, to be named for my daughter. This daylily promises to be the foundation! I trust it will be as good as he described. 👍🏻

He has been pleased with the awards his daylilies have won but I think he would have continued without recognition because what he creates is deeply satisfying to him. Visiting his garden and being invited to see his latest innovations is like seeing a happy kid! 😀 And the excitement is always well-deserved. We would all be fortunate to find a source of that kind of joy!

Pat

Oh, wow.
That Joe Burrow is amazing.
And quite amusing a super-tall daylily is conversely called "burrow".

I have 11 of Richards introductions, Repeated Discovery, Coral Majority, Clarification, Ida Mae Norris, Ashwood Bloom With A View ( Robarts-Norris), Blushing Escapade, In A Cheerful Vein, Enduring Charm, Bryan's Song ( Robarts-Norris), Buttermilk Pie, and Joe Burrow. They are all great garden plants for me. I have used quite a few in my hybridizing the last 3 years. My 3 favorites are probably Buttermilk Pie, Ashwood Bloom With a View and In A Cheerful Vein. I remember Jan's excitement when you showed my Wife Joanne and I " In A Cheerful Vein" growing in their garden before it was introduced. I didn't realize she had passed away in January, she was a wonderful person. We know it takes time to deal with the passing of a soul mate and I hope that Richard has a good support group around him.. My wife lost both of her parents last year and it's taken her awhile to deal with the grief even though they were both 96 and were in good spirits until the end.

I spoke with Richard early last year regarding a daylily of his and he told me of his wife's health issues. I'm sorry to hear of her passing. I'd had dealings with him years ago also, and it was obvious that his wife (who answered the phone a couple of times) was a help to him in more then one way.............In 2013 on this post I spoke of Mary's Baby and just want to say I still have her and think she's one of his best. In fact I told him she ought to have been nominated for a Stout Award and I still feel that way. If you haven't tried her you might want to give her a whirl, particularly if heat is an issue:
Mary's Baby in Back:


Maryl

Thanks for the update on Mr Norris and his family. Our hearts go out to him and his family.

So sorry for Richard's loss, it seems to be something we hear of all too often these days.

Very much ejoying this thread, thanks for all the wonderful information.

I had to look through my list to see which ones I might have, and I do have four: Sharon's Delight, Hip to be Square, Pigment of Imagination ( love knowing the story behind that name!) and Substantial Evidence. I would not trade a single one of them away from the gardens, they are gorgeous!

I quote="Hortaholic"] Thanks for the kind remarks!


I purchased some of Richard's Plants about 2-3 weeks ago and talked to him on the phone. We had a great conversation and I agree with Hortaholic's comments. I ordered Borders On Bordeaux and Substantial Treasure. The fans were lush with good root systems and large fans. My only regret was not buying Sunshine On My Shoulder and Remembered Kisses. I have remedied that and I'm waiting deliverery.

Perhaps he didn't want this publicly mentioned, I hope it's OK. Sadly, his wife Jan developed a progressive, incurable disease and Richard shut down the business to take care of her. She passed away in January. I saw a pic of Richard at one of the winter symposia, I hope that means he is recovering from his grief, which of course goes back to the first diagnosis. She was a sweet lovely person and they always seemed happy together. We were very sad for both of them. 😢 I haven't tried calling him yet.

We ordered the daylily Joe Burrow as soon as he announced it. The price was higher than usual but so is the daylily ! And all the proceeds are going to food pantries in the poverty stricken areas where he lives in SE Ohio. Joe is 61" high with an 8" flower of vivid yellow with a red eye. The most amazing aspect to me is that this giant is diploid!



If we ever sell it, we plan to continue practicing donating the proceeds to the food pantries.

We grow almost all the ones Juli @daylily mentioned in her first post. Each is beautiful and unique. I agree with Rita @newyorkrita, images don't seem able to capture how lovely Clarification is. It's the purest lavender in our garden. It's better off without yellow bubbly spiky edges. Sometimes the latest trends are not meant to be universal!

As Marilyn @polymerous noted with some regret, daylilies that don't fit his main objectives sometimes pop up, like the 2 polymerous yellows she showed. If they're good, he introduces them with the intention that others can use them.

Some ambitious hybridizers would take these breaks to start new lines of introductions. They'd aim to have a dozen or more new intros a year in a variety of looks. Richard seems content to pursue his main interests. It's not for lack of good material. He probably could easily find a dozen "good enough" ones every year. But that's not his ambition. He only wants to introduce his best. At his rate so far I doubt he will ever recoup the initial investment but money is clearly not what it's about.

This year I was able to track down a DF of 'Sunshine On My Shoulders' which I was pleased to get. I've never set out to hybridize toward a certain a goal but now I want to breed a yellow tet that will rebloom in 5b, to be named for my daughter. This daylily promises to be the foundation! I trust it will be as good as he described. 👍🏻

He has been pleased with the awards his daylilies have won but I think he would have continued without recognition because what he creates is deeply satisfying to him. Visiting his garden and being invited to see his latest innovations is like seeing a happy kid! 😀 And the excitement is always well-deserved. We would all be fortunate to find a source of that kind of joy!

Pat [/quote]

Today is a good time to show off the Richard Norris daylilies blooming here. It won't take long for we only have four, but they have done really well for us.

Ashwood Dark Side

This was a bonus plant that arrived about six years ago, and it was better than the four others I ordered.

Belief In Vein--rather unique in the garden, always glad to see this one bloom. It really needs to be moved to a better place, should happen this fall.
d

But Wait There's More--can't overlook this one, what a color! And, later on it will start to double. This is one of the last daylilies to bloom, believe it had a flower in November.


Ashwood's Magic Crystal--so lovely and an excellent performer. This one is planted next to Atomic Glow which is similar in looks but AG has four scapes and AMC has ten.

Surprised 'Ashwood's Magic Crystal' was not registered as being Sculpted Relief, I see both of it's parents Supreme Empire x America's Most Wanted were also sculpted relief plants. Nice to know that it puts out so many scapes. I may have to add that one to my want list.

Although 'Coral Majority' is mentioned several times in this thread, I saw no photos of it posted. Being it is the only Norris plant I have I will take the opportunity to post it.
Edited to show the correct photo.

Wow, Larry. That's really interesting. Your picture looks different from the others in the database. I don't see the sculpted relief on any of the other pictures. Maybe you should add that one to the database.

Larry, that doesn't look like Coral Majority.


Looks like it's Carved Coral, a Lambertson, you already uploaded your image for it. Nice relief form

Thank you Char,
I am glad you recognized it, I was wondering what the heck I did and how I pulled up that photo.