In medicine, we draw peak and trough levels after giving some meds.  It tells us where the medication reaches its highest and lowest levels.  So, yesterday, I got my daylily peak with 26 cultivators in bloom.  It’s a high therapeutic level.  For me, anyway.

Today, the level dropped off a bit.  Only 9.  So, I am highlighting my Mexican Daylily (Shell Flower) in the background.  Those bulb blooms look like blown glass.  Really nice complementary flowers in my yard.

From L to R: Top Row – Aztec Firebird, Soco Gap, Dream Catcher.  Row Two – Purple De Oro, Prelude to Love, South Seas, Orange Vols.  Bottom Row – Blue Beat, Chorusline.

So, some statistics – I have 135 cultivators living in my yard.  Fifty-seven of those have bloomed this year, 78 wait in the wings.  Most of the new garden will wait until next year, although I am approaching a bloom rate of 20% out there.  Who knows what will happen when you turn a rock pile into a garden?

I have some in pots that did less well – much less well – than average.  I am not sure what happened to Cheddar Cheese, but all it’s buds fell off.  Nosferatu did not bloom, nor did Funny Valentine.  Inwood put forth 3 blooms and Strutter’s Ball, only one.  Next spring, more water earlier in the season.  Because, next year, my goal is 80% bloom rate. Or, bust!