Pretty Much Picasso™ Trial garden in Helen's Haven, Raleigh, NC
I wish I were a fly on the wall when the naming of this Proven Winners petunia occrred. I can imagine how the brainstorming session went:
Marketing Head: “Here she is. Now what deserving name do we give her?”
Namer 1: “Wow, this is gonna be hard, how about green and pink?
Namer 2: “But it’s more than just green and pink; its more like a lime green and purplely pink with deep colored veins, darker throat; very abstract, actually.”
Namer 3: “Well, that doesn’t help us name it. How would these colors combine in nature?
Namer 4: “Makes me think of the colors from a Sherwin Williams paint chip display.”
Marketer Head: “Ok, now were’re on to something. How about, Sherwin?”
Namer 2: Naw, sounds too much like Sherman and southerners don’t take cotton to the name Sherman.”
Namer 4: “But, I like the paint thing. Kinda looks like a Monet painting.”
Marketing Head: “Yea, but that kinda sound like the other guy’s Weigela My Monet™ and they have the mark, so there is no chance there.”
Namer 3: “Well since the colors are somewhat abstract, how about Picasso?”
Namer 1: “Yeah, I like that, Picasso!”
Marketing Head: “Does everyone agree?”
Namer 3: “Pretty much.”
Marketing Head: Pretty much; not absolutely?
Namers 1, 2, 3, and 4 shaking their heads in agreement. “Yeah, we like it pretty much?”
Marketing Head: “Ok, we all agree, Picasso it is!”
In the meantime, the note taker was asked to send it over to the attorney to be Trademarked. The attorney asks, “that’s it, Picasso?” Note taker, feeling a little unsure, refers to their notes and replies, pretty much; yeah, that’s it, pretty much Picasso.”
And so a name could be born.
Pretty Much Picasso™ trialed in Helen's Haven
However it was named, Proven Winners’ Pretty Much Picasso™ is a winner in my book.
The trial in my garden, Helen’s Haven, is still going on. We have yet to experience a hard frost; Pretty Much Picasso™ continues to do well.
Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening With Confidence™
Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.
Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum
kk said
Pretty clever,Helen.
gardening with confidence said
Pretty much clever, I guess, kk…
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Sarah from Toronto Gardens said
Pretty much hilarious!
Annie in Austin said
Glad I saw the tweet – this is too funny, Helen.
Think if you mix the Rose Period with the Blue Period you pretty much get purple?
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
rebecca sweet said
I pretty much LOVE clever writing…great job! Nice to start the day with a laugh!
DaffodilPlanter said
LOL on the Sherman line! To me, this plant will always be ‘Pretty Much Bermuda Bag’ since it reminds me of 1980’s preppie color combos.
Mr. McGregor's Daughter said
LOL! There is so much humor to be mined in some of the names given to plants these days. I do like the plant, regardless of whatever tag they hang on it. In any event, if that’s only the tradename, I won’t be using it anyway. I do love my Physocarpus ‘Monlo’ and my Cotinus ‘Ancot.’ ;^)
gardening with confidence said
Shhh, Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, do you children know you talk like that? H.
David Robbins said
Why couldn’t the team come up with something original? Very sad, that the hit count on Google limits peoples imaginations!
gardening with confidence said
Not sad David, probably very clever. It’s a great name, actually. If it was just called Picasso, I would have never written this post about it. No doubt, I would have written about the plant, as all good garden writers will; but they will all start to look the same. Giving a name to create an idea to write about it, separates them from the rest.
Pretty Much Picasso™ will be a huge hit – it is gorgeous. Names stick for what ever reason. I think they pretty much have a hit on their hands, name and all.
gardening with confidence said
Ok Proven Winners we want to know the rest of the story. Who developed it, who named it and why Pretty Much Piscasso? I like knowing these things. I just left Anna flowergardengirl a comment on her posting of Buddeja ‘Miss Ruby’ named after North Carolina’s very own Ruby McSwain by Denny Werner, the plant’s maker. Denny asked me once to help him name his new Redbud coming out. My name didn’t get chosen, but when it is released (and my lips are sealed about it – hehe) I will be referring to it as runner up – and let me tell you, runner up is a WINNER.
H.
Danielle Ernest said
Thanks for asking the question, Helen! And by the way the post was very clever and cute! Supertunia Pretty Much Picasso™ was developed by a Japanese plant breeder who works with Proven Winners developing our Supertunia® line. The artistry of the breeder combined with his goals of extended heat and humidity performance have led to some amazing new Petunias such a Vista Bubblegum, Vista Fuchsia, and Vista Silverberry. He felt Pretty Much Picasso was a breakthrough in color and it is! He is also working on other flower sizes, and doubles, as well as new colors with the green edge. We are really excited to have such a genetic expert, as well as someone with a strong art sense who can generate breakthroughs in so many areas of garden performance! Due to the breeder’s artistic nature and the designer flower color – we felt it needed a name to be remembered. Kerry Meyer, who works on naming all of our plants, gains inspiration from everything including nail polish colors, wall paint colors, drink names and more. She loved the name Picasso, but didn’t know if it could be trademarked and went with Pretty Much Picasso instead. Creating a memorable and stellar stand-alone plant name.
Kerry said
I love the name, I love the post, I love the plant! You hit the trifecta! I’m already thinking about what it would pair with. Hmmmm….
flowergardengirl said
Thank you for commenting on my blog. I do wonder about the names and have given up trying to track them all down. I like your version. I didn’t get to trial this and am so jealous you did! But hey, I just ordered 40 and saw the gal tonight to make sure she knew I meant it.
TC said
Not a petunia fan, but I pretty much love Picasso’s works.
gardening with confidence said
Ha TC, this post, if nothing else, is pretty much a test of ones ability to use the phrase, pretty much.
H.
patientgardener said
I did enjoy your imaginary conversation. I dont really like petunias but those look very pretty with their green edging
Joel The Urban Gardener said
Ok, I have to admit to sitting in on such “meetings” (if you can call them that) and it is actually shocking how close you are. Now, with your amazing clairvoyant powers, can you please tell me where my favorite shears have gone?
gardening with confidence said
Oh yes, Joel, I know exactly where your favorite shears are – right where you left them last. Thanks for stopping by!
H.