To the man who is actually in the arena... | Daylily Blog


<posted April 29, 2014>  This is H. 'Ida Mae Norris.'  This is my favorite cultivar of Richard Norris' to date.  I grow and enjoy several now and have had even more over the years that I have traded, sold or given away to friends as tastes and space evolved.  I also love his H. 'Ashwood Dark Side' and H. 'Plane Geometry,' but this one takes the cake.  First, it is 7"+, matte and flat as a pancake.  Although flat and matte, it also has a supple texture that grabs my attention.  I'm surprised to see he still has some for sale on his website.

Here are two other pinkies I like.  First is H. 'Rose Colored Glasses':


And the second (below) is H. 'Small World Looney Tunes' from Michael Miller.  It's the first introduction of his I bought directly from him and I'm very pleased with its performance.  Looking forward to taking it to a show this summer to see what it can do here in region 2.  This one also has a very funky pattern in the morning - and pretty consistently.  It is also a fast increaser in my Illinois garden.


I've been buried under some wonderful projects lately with people from many different areas of my life.  I had some big school projects at my son's school, some home improvement projects, some large-scale garden tour plans, daylily club projects and some big writing projects, too.  Dealing with these simultaneous projects has been delicate.  I am working with people who aren't so easy to work with in situations that aren't easy with the best of teams.  Some of the teams were so high performing we never convened as a group and the event went off without a hitch.  I haven't much liked the last 60 days of hard brain work, but I did lean on some writings of people way smarter than me at some of my most frustrated moments.  Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favorite politician, soldier and outdoors man. I've shared this story before, but its a good time to share it again.

He presented a speech entitled "Citizenship in a Republic" at the Sorbonne in 1910, two years after Henry Ford rolled the first Model T out of Detroit.  In my office at Ford Motor Company World HQ, there is a photo of Mr. Ford and Mr. Roosevelt, riding in a Model T on the slender streets of Dearborn.  The photo gives me goosebumps to see such "movement and thought" sharing a ride together.  The speech from the Sorbonne brings an overwhelming sense of personal call to action every time I read it.  Here is an excerpt, and I hope you find some strength in it, too.  It's pretty fierce, IMHO.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. THE CREDIT BELONGS TO THE MAN WHO IS ACTUALLY IN THE ARENA, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, IF HE FAILS, AT LEAST FAILS WHILE DARING GREATLY so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

It is the season of doing in our gardens and in our communities as they come to life with Spring.  

If not YOU, who?

H. 'Brookwood Hiawatha'


5 comments:

Unknown said...

The Roosevelt quote is tremendous! Thanks for inspiring my day/week/month/year/life.

Meg

Diana said...

Nikki,
Wow, what a quote. It applies to so many areas of our lives. Thanks for sharing and thinking about your daylily friends to share this with. I also love pink and I wish we had more beautiful pink daylilies. (big beautiful pink daylilies)!!!!
Diana

Nikki Schmith said...

It is great to "see" you both, Meg and Diana. Two of my FAVORITE daylily ladies! I love this quote, too. There is a recent book called DARING GREATLY that explores this quote deeply. Its by Brene Brown and its a total must read. Have a great day, ladies!
N

cynthiasreyes.com said...

Beauties, all!

Anonymous said...

Wow ... The perfect inspiration as I launch into a tremously tight schedule to coordinate a complicated proposal with a new team, on top of everything else. Thank you, Nikki! Emily Elliott

 

5 Most Visited Posts. Ever.

The Entire Vault

My New Podcast - Click Below!