Summer Icicles in the Desert

July 31, 2017Leave a comment

The daylily potting project in the front yard nears completion. I am exhausted. Four more today. Silly me, I promised myself a new daylily if I got this far. LOL. I like to go about now and find the late bloomers 🙂 I think once my bloom rate is up, I won’t want to go. It is just too much like the day after Christmas when the daylilies stop blooming.

So, Desert Icicle bloomed today. Another Ned Robert’s spider. I think I’ll have some Neds tomorrow, too, I think.

Oh, and Anasazi, that I have had for 2 years, is putting out a scape. It is an early bloomer, so I wonder if it is really Anasazi. I guess we will see in a couple weeks or so. Despite the low bud count, I have made some progress with some of them. Mostly the potted ones 🙂

In addition to the potting project, I separated a fan of both Canyon Colors and Mesa Verde and put them in the Southwest Garden. I am now declaring that garden full!! With the garden fence (to slow down the solar light thief), it is hard to work in there. There are a fair number of roots out there, too. Trees, mostly. I am going to be putting some of the strugglers in pots, but without bottoms. Maybe try a couple in real pots, too. They need room without competition. Pioneering.

Weekends are always too short. Camping next weekend. The following, I need to get the roots dug for my work friends. I got a couple yesterday. But, I still need to wash the roots.

Sometimes, I feel guilty about this hobby. It soaks up a lot of money when I do major projects. But, you know, I could be a skier or something. It is really the only hobby (at this scale) that I have ever had. Tomorrow, I am guessing there will be more pictures to take.

Born to Be (Nearly) Wild!

July 30, 2017July 30, 2017Leave a comment

Last night it rained. It has been overcast all day, and now it is raining, again. It is a good weekend to dig daylilies and put them in pots. It is not a good weekend to chill with my dogs at the brewery. Or, go camping!

So, I did have a new bloom today. Her name is Nearly Wild. And she held up pretty well to the rain and sprinkler.

I am fairly sure she is named for the ditch lily, Fulva, that is the original American daylily. It was brought to the US from Asia in the 19th century as an ornamental flower. It grows along ditches in certain areas of the country, and (unlike most daylilies we grow today) has rhizomes that make it invasive. You can order it, but it comes with a black box warning that it is invasive! But, it does look like Nearly Wild, don’t you think?

OK – so the pot moving took most of the day. So far, 43 moved and 13 to go. Of the 13, 10 are still in bloom or have scapes. So, tomorrow is a much shorter day with that piece. Plus, I am starting to do some dividing, so may do a bit of that tomorrow. The cool weather makes a good time to do this part. Probably more so than camping.

Drizzle

July 29, 2017July 29, 2017Leave a comment

It’s Friday! So, after work, I dashed out to continue the daylily potting project. Ran out of potting soil after the first two, so ran to Home Depot. Came home and was working on another two when the rain started. It is a nice rain . . . drizzle, but enough to cool things off and wet the garden.

No new faces today. Tiger Kitten lost his only bud 😦 For tomorrow, I think maybe Nearly Wild might bloom. At any rate, I decided to make a collage like I did every day last year during the peak. I don’t have enough time do to that this year, but wanted something to show for the last of the big bloom days of July.

The rain on Wednesday bought mushrooms to my Southwest garden . . . guessing the mushroom compost come to life. Weird, in the desert.

Tomorrow, the journey continues. I wanted to be camping, but decided to plan 3 camping trips for August this weekend AND STICK TO IT!!!! But, for now, I am making good progress on the daylily potting. And, not camping in the rain. I have so much to do before freeze and Amazon is slow with my second order of pots. Oh, well, like the daylily, all we really have is this moment.

They’re Back!

July 28, 2017Leave a comment

OK, so I said I would try to focus on new blooms for this blog . . . and that works during peak. As that falls off, the focus will need to shift in order to keep the blog alive through the summer and early fall. There are tons of possibilities . . . colors, shapes, etc.

For tonight, the focus in these two awesome rebloomers – Pink & Cream and Yellow Punch. I rarely buy Big Box daylilies, but I was in the mood for more color in early June, and these added some spice to the yellow trumpets. And, so they finished but now they are back.

They are offspring of Stella de Oro, but I like them a lot better. They were marketed as better rebloomers than Stella, and this year in my yard that is 100% true. Maybe these two will be my last daylilies of the year. Oh, I have younger scapes on a few . . . Pizza Crust, Western Sandstone, Nearly Wild, Heirloom Heaven. But, these could keep coming back. Until today, the last bloom for Pink and Cream was late June. And, yea, they live in pots.

After the Rain

July 27, 2017July 27, 2017Leave a comment

The rain came and brought a new bloom – Classy Lady. She is another one I got to get a better rate on postage. I believe she was an early Lily Auction purchase. Two years in a row, she has been a one-bud-wonder. It is a great flower, though.

The peak will soon drop to a handful of blooms a day. Last year, they went into November. That’s right . . . November. My bud count has just not been predictive of rebloomers this year. I do have 5 late bloomers with scapes, some are new scapes. But, that is about it for predicted new faces.

So, I got 3 different delivery carriers bringing me pots from Amazon today. It was actually a decent deal and I could do some chosen colors in numbers to make it kind of cool. On split shift, I got 9 more plants moved to pots. They were in the most troubled spot in the yard. Of the 9, five bloomed a couple of times. The rest were quiet.

The pots will be easier to keep moist and fertilize, etc. The only problem is that I now have mixed pots with ones in the soil that have scapes. I need to keep the bloomers watered, but not over water the pots. This should be interesting 🙂

Speaking of pots, I decided that I would grow my garlic for next year in 6-inch pots. Those, too, have not thrived in my root-laden soil like they should. So my pot color scheme is turquoise and purple mostly. Some earth colors and maroon. The garlic will be similar. My veggie garden was a little of everything – I thought that would be fun with lots of different colors.

The whole thing makes me amazed that the Anasazi could grow corn and stuff here. Like, I have sprinklers and I still have issues.

I think the next new bloom will be tiger kitten. Tomorrow? Who knows?

Fol de Rol

July 26, 2017Leave a comment

The rain came today . . . and in a big way. For the high desert. And, one of my two Fol de Rol buds opened. This is one that I got on the auction, I think. I ordered a Ned Roberts spider and the same hybridizer had this one. The thing about postage and daylilies is that you are better off to buy more than one. So, I liked this one! And, I hope for more buds next year when it is in a pot.

Speaking of the pots, I did some research. Most say that it is best to plant in-ground. Unless, of course, your soil is clay. Now, my front garden soil isn’t bad, but everything turns alkaline here in no time. And, the daylilies are not native to this place, so the more native plants take over. They like daylily roots – moisture holders in the desert. In these cases, pots can be better.

Looking at the bloom rate and scape size around my yard, pots are better. The Southwest garden (fortunately) has fewer competitors. And, most the plants are decent sized and healthy. Some put on quite a show this summer out there!

So, one of the other things I learned about pots is that you can move them. Well, I knew that. But, I hadn’t really thought about moving the ones in the front garden because they are (or will be) partially buried. But, it did occur to me that if I want to add a new flower and give away one that I am less crazy about, it will be a ton easier.

That brings to mind the chore of dividing a few pots. And, some I want to have in two places. Jungle Queen, Mesa Verde, and Canyon Colors, for sure. All three are evergreen, so the grand experiment is to see how they do if they are left out all winter. They are big enough, I think they stand a decent chance. While I am developing 3 new daylily areas, neither is that big. Eventually, I will run out of space!

Focus

July 25, 2017July 25, 2017Leave a comment

I was downloading photos from my camera tonight and had to laugh that the first 5 or 6 were horribly out-of-focus. Must have been Monday! The first photo is Mini Pearl – I was trying to catch a bee on her. No luck, but the focus is kinda cool. (Little Cadet – in focus.)

Daylilies give a focus to my life for several months every year. Not the only focus, but a creative focus. Now, work is more structured and less creative. I crave my time with the colors. One woman walked by yesterday and says she choose this route so she can see which lily blooms next. Yea, me too! (Black Eyed Susan is putting on a good show.)

Nothing new in bloom today – and not much cued-up. I’m featuring my golden blooms with eyes today, I guess. The season winds down a bit, and I am sad by the number of blooms I did not see this year. Fol de Rol dropped its bud. Why? It is hard to be a farmer. (Indian Sky paints the front lawn today.)

I did order pots – lotsa pots – from Amazon. Digging and transplanting kills much of a chance for reblooms. But, making the plants stronger this season will build blooms for the next. And, that’s my focus. PS – Two of the three featured blooms today are in pots!

Free Lily!

July 23, 2017July 23, 2017Leave a comment

Remember the movie “Free Willy” about the orcha whale who was trapped in a theme park? Well, today I played the part of the person who had a plan to free Willy. I freed another 8 daylilies from the fray of my garden soil. “Be above it,” I tell them. And, hopefully having an individual ecosystem will help them to thrive with a soil line a couple inches above the garden. It is amazing just how much stuff is growing out of their roots underneath.

You won’t believe this, but I had a new bloom today. Adios Albuquerque had its first bloom ever here, out in my Southwestern Garden. It does not have a high bud count this year, but the plant is huge. I live is some fear that I may be doing the container trick in that garden next year if it works. Sigh.

Oh, and I think I figured out the little, unnamed flower from yesterday is Pardon Me. I recall buying one by that name for one of the little gardens a few years back. And, this one looks like it could be a match. Check out yesterday’s bloom (first) and the bloom from the internet.

It feels like the work of preparing for fall has already started. But, next weekend I hope to be camping. Really, want to do most the transplanting at least 6 weeks before freeze. Plus, I have to divide up some of the existing pots, as the most common reason for no bloom is crowding by new daylily fans. I guess some of my friends will be getting free lilies 🙂 PS, I sincerely hope that next year is not as much work once the pots are in . . .

Going to Pot

July 23, 2017July 23, 2017Leave a comment

It’s Colorado, but not that kind of pot. I mean that I sunk about a dozen daylilies from my walkway garden into buried pots. I look at the fans and they look so sad compared to the daylilies in pots around the yard. So, that made me consider bloom rate (and volume) of pot vs in the soil daylilies. I figured out my bloom rate in the pots is 70% +. My overall bloom rate is going to be around 50%. The pots have better bud count, too. So, we will see what spring 2018 brings.

So, believe it or not, I had two new faces today. First off, Fairytale Pink. I love the color and shape of this one. It needs a pot when it is done with its few buds.

Next is a cute little red miniature and I have no clue on the name. It is one I rescued from the shady garden near the back fence last year. I put those in before I knew this much about daylilies, so did not keep track of names. It is cute. I’ll have to research it, I guess. Maybe it is a Ruby Stella?

Well, I must be running out of new faces . . . but I do have scapes around on a few that are still small. So, who knows. I am working around the ones with scapes for now on the potting. So far, I have about 20 that bloomed last year that didn’t bloom this year. And, I have about the same number that bloomed this year and not last year. Last year, I spent so much time mulching and fertilizing each walkway garden daylily, but the grass and other flowers liked the treat as well as the daylilies. I have daisies and blue bells that are invasive. And so, I will go broke buying plastic pots!

Indian Sky

July 22, 2017July 22, 20171 Comment

Indian skies remind me of camping trips to the Southwest. And, today, my Indian Sky bloomed for the first time. Well, second time. But the first time it was still on the back porch for the winter and it was April. It only had 2 buds then, and the blooms lasted 2-3 days on the cool porch. They were faded, but I could see the shadow of what they would be someday.

Today’s bloom was so much more colorful than that poor anemic bloom.

But, still some difference from the more colorful (with yellow) web images. See below.

I loved the colors enough to superimpose Indian Sky a sunset from last summer near Monument Valley, UT/AZ. I think it turned out cool.

Other first blooms (I don’t want to use them all up at once, but I had 3 today) included Best Seller. I am so jazzed that this one finally bloomed . . . a gift plant the summer of 2014, I believe. I like the purple hue and ruffles! I was so impressed with this one when it arrived – it’s been a long wait.

Lastly, an inexpensive late bloomer that I got to put in last year, Little Cadet. It is the first bloom in my yard. It is a cute little thing, and the scapes are too short this year. But, it is here.

Honorable mention to my best (and last) Zuni Thunderbird for the season.

After work, I ventured to Home Depot for supplies to start my daylily buried pot project. I figured out that I have lost 1.5 daylilies in the front part of the walkway garden to competition. So, tomorrow, I move the ones who have virtually no chance of blooming this year into pots – then back in that garden. I feel overwhelmed – I have around 20-30 in the front area that may benefit from a pot. I need to plug away at it, because I need to be done in about 6 weeks so they can resettle before freeze.

I have decided that I need to learn how to get daylilies to flourish in the desert before I get too many more new ones . . . and that means trying different things. I read somewhere recently that you should put your daylily where it can grow huge before putting it in less desirable places. My potted daylilies are so much happier than my in-grounds for the most part. I am curious to see what happens. Oh, and then there are those who need to be divided. Some, I’ll keep. Others will need to find new homes.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Month: July 2017