The Daylily Dozen (plus one)

July 12, 2016July 12, 2016Leave a comment

Today, I finally had a dozen different daylilies in bloom in my yard. I limited photos, but it still took forever to go through them 😉 I decided to put today’s collage in some sort of order by color from purple to yellow.

I want to keep this short, but also share some new faces. First is a brand new face, Indian Love Call. It is a pretty dark bloom with thin peddles. Nice addition to the front yard.

Indian Love Call – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

The next one is “almost” brand new. I got South Seas toward the end of last season and I only got one bloom. I love the bright colors and large bloom size.

South Seas – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Then an old favorite, Route 66. I found this one the year that Route 66 was the epicenter of my Southwest road trip. The hybridizer created this one back when Route 66 was still more of an American dream trip. The colors are spot-on.

Route 66 – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Another new face today is my first “Mexican Daylily” that is really called a Shell Flower. These blooms got their nickname because each bloom only lasts one day. I love the beautiful pattern on the bottom. These are bulbs that I got for $1 at the grocery store in February (all 12 of them).

“Mexican Daylily” – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, finally, below is my Daylily Dozen. It is of note that Colorado Kid almost looks like a different flower now that it is hot. It is up with the dark reds but was a pink in earlier blossoms.

From L to R. Top Row: Kokopelli, Purple de Oro, Black Ice, The Colorado Kid. Row two: Indian Love Call, Route 66, Ruby Spider, Early Bird Cardinal. Bottom Row: Mesa Verde, South Seas, Primal Scream, Lady Fingers.

What’s up for tomorrow? Lucky 13.

Daylilies @ Dusk

July 11, 2016July 11, 2016Leave a comment

I made it home to find 11 different daylily cultivators in bloom. Thing is, though, it was dusk. And, it had been a very warm day. In the 90s. So, my little friends were too burned to take good flash photography. So, I went with grainy natural lighting with some photo-fix to help.

New bloom in my Ned Roberts garden is Desert Icicle. I am hoping for a fresh one very soon! Pretty thing. Prarie Blue Eyes is on oldie but goodie in my yard. Great older daylily. And, what I think is Just Plum Happy. I hope it is in bloom tomorrow with Return a Smile so I can confirm identity. Other than that, I believe they are all returns this year. Can’t wait to see what the daylight brings.

Top row: Just Plum Happy, Canyon Colors, Margaret Mitchell, and Return a Smile. Second row: Lady Fingers, Purple De Oro, Desert Icicle, Early Bird Cardinal, Ruby Spider. Bottom row: Soco Gap and Prairie Blue Eyes.

The wild, the tamed, and a daylily

July 10, 2016Leave a comment

Tomorrow, I head home to daylilies and puppies. I am glad I came. A few more hours checked off. New knowledge. Tonight, I share the last flower pictures from the high Rockies ecosystem. Tomorrow, it’s back to the Colorado Plateau.

The wild:

The tamed:

And one lone Stella (?) amongst the city’s landscaping.

The rest are unbloomed scapes. My yard may be behind, but it’s clearly ahead of the highlands. What blooms will I find tomorrow? I don’t even have a Stella in my yard.

Rocky Mountain High

July 9, 2016July 9, 2016Leave a comment

I’m not talking about weeds, just more mountain flowers to share.Enjoy!

I’ve seen it rain,

And, fire in the sky.

Talk to God,

and listen

To the casual reply.

Colorado Columbines

July 8, 2016July 8, 2016Leave a comment

So, I moved to a hotel with poor wifi. Therefore, I’m posting from my phone tonight. I hope this works.

I don’t know what daylilies are in bloom in my yard today, but I still took time to enjoy some flowers. If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.

There were a lot of Colorado wildflowers near the conference center. There was the widest array of columbines I think I’ve ever seen in one place. Every color but blue, the State flower, just about.

The high was low 70s here. Very different USA zone at almost 10k feet above sea level. The lilacs are in bloom.

Anyway, as promised, here are a few photos.

A white columbine:

And, a hot pink one:

Light purple:

How about red?

And, a whole chorus of color.

I think my daylilies have taught me to stop and smell the roses, no matter where I am. And, well, I miss my internet, too. What blooms will tomorrow bring?

Not Southwestern, but Native American

July 7, 2016July 7, 2016Leave a comment

I sit in a hotel so that I can attend a clinical conference the next few days. It’s going to be good, I think. Still, I hate missing daylily blooms.

Today’s featured bloom is Soco Gap. It was sent as a gift plant last fall. I had no clue what the name meant so I Googled it and found out that it does link to Native Americans. Soco Gap was a place in North Carolina where the Shawnee were defeated by the Cherokee. Therefore, it is in my Southwestern (mostly) Ned Roberts garden. It is a pretty bloom amongst the yucca plants. I like the red-orange color.

Soco Gap – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

The other new face today is Mildred Mitchell. The name reminds me a bit of Watergate, but it is really named for the hybridizers family member. It is a near blue, which was clear to my eye. It was too bright by the time I got out and it does not look blue to the camera under the sun. It is a pretty flower, just the same.

Mildred Mitchell – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

The other bloom that I will mention in the text is Return A Smile. She had blooms in her container on the porch and in the front garden. It is a division of the same plant. I am amazed by the difference that the sun exposure makes to color. It makes identification much more interesting because these guys are not color stable in bright sun.

And, my collage for today. Best day yet – that is nine blooms if you count both Return a Smile blooms. (Flowers moving clockwise from top left – Mesa Verde, Early Bird Cardinal, Primal Scream, Ruby Spider, and Lady Fingers (center).

Mesa Verde, Early Bird Cardinal, Primal Scream, Ruby Spider, and Lady Fingers – Photos by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Can’t wait to see what is up next when I return home! I am considering finding high country flowers as I walk around this area and blogging a bit about those. I am at 9,000+ feet above sea level. And, I have empty nest for my own garden already. 🙂

And Feathered Canyons Everywhere

July 5, 2016July 5, 20161 Comment

I obviously love the Southwest. Anyone who knows my daylily collection knows that over 50% of my garden has a name that brings with it some Southwestern meaning. And, so today Canyon Colors bloomed. Like Mesa Verde, the colors are much warmer in full sunlight. I think I prefer the shade version.

It is a beautiful two-colored daylily. It, like Mesa Verde, is an evergreen. So, they both lived in my back porch all winter. They have matching containers of turquoise and are positioned near each other on a sunny corner of my house. I love them together! They compliment each other nicely . . . and I feel like I’m on a campout at the Four Corners.

So, I have this idea that all my Southwestern place named daylilies need to be superimposed on a photo of their place. With Canyon Colors, I decided to use a photo of Canyon de Chelly that I took on my road trip this spring. It is shaped a lot like Spider Rock, even though it is not a spider daylily.

Other new faces for the year 2016 were both old faces to my yard. I felt like old friends had returned when I saw Lady Fingers had opened her first two blooms. These may be the most eye-catching daylily in my yard.

Also, little Purple de Oro is back. I feel bad for this little one, because I have never taken time to get a good photo of it. So, today that was my mission. How did I do?

My Ned Roberts Southwestern garden (I call it the Yucca garden) was very quiet today. Soco Gap, however, is not going to wait more than 24 hours to show her colors for the first time in my yard. I can’t wait.

As promised, the other bloomers of today were put in a single collage to save blog space. They include Jungle Queen, Ruby Spider, Early Bird Cardinal, and Mesa Verde.

After tomorrow, I will miss a couple days of blooms while I travel for clinical hours for my doctorate. I am hoping to get out early and take photos before I leave. I need to get a webcam for each plant, I guess.

PS – I divided up my Funny Valentine so my daughter could have one. She lives across the Rockies in Colorado. She has a bloom today, and I am still waiting on scapes.

Red, White, and Blue

July 4, 2016July 4, 2016Leave a comment

Today is Independence Day, and my dad’s birthday. He is gone now, but the day is always a memory of him. It is also the first day of my last term at school. In 11 weeks, I am a doctor! I hope my daylily blooms have peaked by then.

I am so glad I have Ruby Spider in the front garden now, with separating my original plant last year. Why? Because it is peak bluebell and daisy season. Makes for a great red, white and blue photo.

Ruby Spider with daisies and blue bells – photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Other than a hint of patriotic hues in the garden, it was another slow day. At first I thought I had no blooms in my Ned Roberts southwestern spider garden. It wasn’t until we got home from the downtown events that I noticed Winds of Love. It was pretty burned out by the time I got the photo.

Winds of Love – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

What is cool, though, is that to the yucca in that garden are in love with more water . . . and one I have never seen blooming is doing so now. It was a much smaller yucca garden for several years. One put in to hide the blemish of a tree removed to replace the sewer line. It got it got ignored more than not. But the yucca grew, so I figure there would be enough sun for daylilies. I can’t wait until the space has matured a bit, because I think the yuccas and daylilies will look fabulous together.

Yucca Bloom – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

All of that said, I would give the prize for best flower to The Colorado Kid. Once again, fabulous vibrant color.

The Colorado Kid – photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Wild Horses came to march in the parade of color today. Always a favorite.

Wild Horses – photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, Early Bird Cardinal tried to look patriotic, as well.

Early Bird Cardinal – photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, hey, one of my favorite daylily companions, Flamingo Grass, is blooming. Come on daylilies, lets roll!

So, that is it for the Fourth of July. I think we may see Canyon Colors tomorrow. Slo-mo daylily season.

Jungle Queens and Voodoo Dancers, Oh My

July 3, 2016Leave a comment

The storm is passing, slowly but surely. It should start warming up by the end of the week. However, it wasn’t a bad daylily day. A Jungle Queen and a Voo Dancer showed up! Now, that is something to blog about.

Jungle Queen was amongst my first Lily Auction purchases. It was the day I needed to figure out how to win stuff so that I would get Kokopelli when the bidding closed. After losing on an earlier Ned Roberts daylily, I was determined to figure out the system. Jungle Queen caught my eye . . . and now she lives in my garden.

Jungle Queen – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

VooDoo dancer is one I purchased locally this year to go in a beautiful Mexican pot that my daughter bought me when they came to visit for Memorial Day. It should be a double bloom, so still adapting to its new surroundings. I’m hoping to see doubles soon! It is really pretty in the picture . . . more purple, too. I’ll put the web picture below. Hopefully, it wasn’t mislabeled 😦

Two of my Ned Roberts spiders are in bloom today. For fun, I put together a collage of all the blooms I have had from his creations to date. Five so far. I have 40+ Neds in my yard – so 10%. The larger ones (Chief FOUR Fingers and Kokopelli) are from today. This is the first FOUR finger bloom on the Chief! The smaller ones are Black Ice, Dream Keeper, and Winds of Love.

Ned Roberts collection to date – Photos by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Other bloomers were Ruby Spider, who adds visual splendor to both the front and side garden today. In front, it was a little red, white, and blue. And, on the porch garden, it was a pose with a friend (Return a Smile – I think).

Early Bird Cardinal landed again, too.

Early Bird Cardinal – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

I have had 18 different blooms so far this year. It is a start! Tomorrow, I am betting on Canyon Colors. Can’t wait to see it!

Where have all my daylilies gone?

July 2, 2016July 2, 2016Leave a comment

Hey, it is the 4th of July weekend. Normal daylily peak bloom in my yard is the next couple of weeks. I look at my posts to Facebook the past two years, and those blooms are behind. After cool, rainy weather for the last couple of days, I only had three blooms today. Look, I’ve got over 100 varieties in my yard . . . so three? Really?

What can you do but sit and wait? And, take photos of your new hostas. Yes, that is how I decided to balance my yard a little . . . with shade foliage plants. My yard has sunny spots where the daylilies flourish. It also had a lot of established trees and, therefore, shade. Those areas just aren’t good for daylily blooms. So, this year I have found some great online hosta sites and I am trying a few out to see how they do. I love that the color is permanent, whereas the daylilies bloom for one day. It seems like yin and yang. The hot colors of the sun-loving daylilies and the cool colors of the shade-loving hosta.

Before I share my (still very much) baby hosta photos, let’s visit the daylilies. Since it is red, white, and blue weekend, let’s start with Ruby Spider. As always, stunning.

Then that mystery daylily that is, most likely Primal Scream and not Desert Flame. Very eye-catching, even in the muted light.

Lastly, poor little Black Ice who did not want to bloom in the rain. I had to go out after lunchtime to finally find it fully open for the day. With a name like Black Ice, you would think it would appreciate the cooler weather. No, wait, it’s a daylily.

OK, so here are my baby hosta plants. I love the blues, yellows and variegated ones. The adult plants are much showier. I can’t wait to see them in a year! But, starting with roots is economical beyond belief. And, they can grow into their space in a few years. Like daylily roots, buying this way means you wait a bit longer. And, it’s usually worth the wait.

Tomorrow, it looks like there is a possibility of more blossoms. Maybe even some new faces. And, more sun. I sure hope so. My dogs are in hoodies and I want to crawl under my blanket. Happy 4th of July weekend from the Colorado Plateau.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Month: July 2016