I am posting a quick update. Several mid-late bloomers in the past week. I haven’t posted here because of brain fog (no AC), little dogs, other blogs (I have 4 active) and old frogs. I am just going to do a quick post to catch-up.
My 3 Special Needs/Senior Rescues Keep Me Busy!
On 7.24, Ghost Ranch bloomed with the first decent sized blooms ever in my yard. I replaced the first plant a couple years ago because it died. I also had a NOID Red Spider that may be another Skinwalker or Winds of Love, but doesn’t perfectly match either. It was suppose to be Coyote Laughs, but it clearly isn’t. I also had reliable El Desperado.
It’s an interesting year – I am still in the low 20s every day. My highest day was in the 30s or low 40s – nothing like 60-70. It has been a slow, steady season.
I am going to go to weekly with this blog now that the season is slowing. I will continue to blog until the last daylily blooms, but frequency will decrease as the yard slows. I need to get back to life!
And, a quick reminder about my Until the Last Daylily Blooms Etsy sale! I use my earnings to help support my rescue dogs, so I appreciate readers who take the time to visit my shop. Thank you!
Life can change in a moment. A couple of years ago, an online friend who I met through a Facebook daylily group called Daylily Lovers and I did a daylily exchange. He lived in the same USDA zone but in the eastern US. I’m out west. I sent him Saratoga Springtime and he sent me Autumn Minaret. I guess we were looking for daylilies from opposite seasons to add to our yards.
Autumn Minaret
The daylily he sent didn’t do much last year, so today is the first ever bloom for Autumn Minaret. I want to dedicate this post to my friend. So much happened to him so quickly. I doubt he will ever see this post but I wonder how he are doing. The flower will always remind me of his love of daylilies.
Readers – Have you ever exchanged daylilies with a friend? How did it go? Please share the experience! Did you stay local or ship the daylily roots? Do you recommend daylily exchanges to others?
Until the Last Daylily Blooms: Skinwalker Painting and Signed Prints
Immerse yourself in the serene beauty of nature with this exquisite, original hand-painted daylily wall art. Capturing the delicate forms of Skinwalker, a yellow daylily with subtle pink edging, this piece serves as a charming accent for any room.
How many of those of us who take photographs have ever been disgusted to take a closer look at our beautiful flower photo and see those ugly pincers (click link to find out more about earwig ID) were smiling at the camera when we clicked the otherwise gorgeous shot? Ugh!
Parts of earwig visible in the throat of the flower.
I inspect the flower for earwigs before I take the photo. If I see the nasty little pincers, I grab a nearby twig. I want a fine enough twig not to damage the flower – but it also needs to be strong enough to grab the insect and allow me to drag it out of the flower. Below is a short video with my process. Sorry about the shakiness, I had to try to hold the camera while manually extracting the insect. Normally, I hold the flower steady with the other hand to minimize or prevent flower damage.
Manual extraction of earwig from throat of daylily.
Dog photo bombs are much cuter than earwig photobombs.
More Colorful Spiders: Reaching for My Stretch Goal . . . of 60% Bloom Rate
I had two first of the season blooms today – both Ned Roberts’ spiders. That makes 25 total for the year so far . . . out of 70+. 😦 That’s about 35%. As with the rest of the yard, I hope for 60%. That’s about 18 more cultivators. It’s my stretch goal!
Winds of Love
Winds of Love is such a beautiful flower – she always looks like she is blowing in a gentle breeze. Golden Eclipse has unique coloring. I was cautioned by the grower that it looked a little brown to some buyers – but I adore the color.
Golden Eclipse
When Will My Last Daylily Bloom?
Maybe I should run a contest! Last year, it was the day before Halloween. I have actually have had blooms into November some years, but I moved the plant into the lean-to so the buds didn’t freeze. Typically, late September/early October – about freeze time in Colorado zone 6.
My last bloom last year was Open My Eyes on10.29 – It was hit with freezing rain after blooming.
My dog Maizzy’s memorial leaf during it’s creation.
Yesterday, I decided to include my Colorado wildflower cards. These are made with my own photography of Pearl Lake State Park – the Park is named after my grandma.
Today’s blog looked at non-techno, eco-friendly approaches to removing earwigs from your daylily photos. I shared photos of my latest beloved Ned Roberts spider daylilies. And, I shared updated information on my Until the Last Daylily Blooms art sale. I am seriously considering a contest for the person who guesses the last bloom date! What do you think?
Return from the Colorado Mountains: Fourteen New Bloomers for the Season
I always feel overwhelmed the day after I take a camping break – especially during daylily season! Fortunately or unfortunately, my underwhelming bloom rate for 2024 has made it more manageable. But, it is still a lot of photos to organize and turn into an Instagram reel/blog post.
Below are my Ned Roberts’ spiders that are new since my last post.
Cricket CallDancing MaidenFox EarsPink Rain Dance (from last year, missed this year’s only bud.)Raven Woodsong
So, how is the bloom rate doing now? I have had 84 of 196. So, 43%. That’s way down from the past few years for this point in time. I am hoping to hit 60%. That would take 34 more new blooms for 2024. I think that’s optimistic. Too many pots decided to rest this year.
Here are my other first blooms for 2024 (since my last post.)
Coburg Fright WigHeirloom HeavenInk HeartIrresistible CharmOff to See the WizardOrange FlurryRosie’s Red at duskRuby StellaWestern Sandstone
Remediating a Poor Bloom Rate
Gardening is a science experiment. I am going to try some liquid spray fertilizer once we have a some cooler weather in the forecast. I will probably do more time release before the end of the season – and I am considering working some manure into the pots in September, about a month before freeze.
I wanted to share my Pearl Lake Wildflower Cards as today’s listing. I just added these to the Until the Last Daylily Blooms sale that goes live tomorrow. They will be 30% off for the next month! Perfect for flower lovers. The cards will be approximately (depending on Etsy’s calculator) $2.80 for a single card or 10.50 for a set of all 5 cards. This is in addition to FREE SHIPPING. Click on the photo below or this link to go to the listing.
Questions on the sale? Special order requests? Please reach out and email me!
How many of my readers have a memorial garden integrated into your yard? Daylilies are great for memorial gardens because the names often speak to us of a friend or loved one. In fact, I have a family name section of my daylily garden with Catherine Irene, Mini Pearl, Stephanie Returns, Isaac, Mayan Poppy and Oh Erica that are all names of family members, both alive and dead. It’s almost as good as having them come to visit.
I also have a pet memorial garden that is actually coneflower. I didn’t get coneflowers with pet names – they have Southwestern names like Moab Sunset, though. I have my handmade memorial pet leaf castings, each with a little of my pet’s own ashes in the hypertufa (cement + sphagnum moss + vermiculate) mix. I also added some of my cute handmade garden gnomes and I have a plague for the first dog I lost, Maizzy. In the lilac tree that towers above the garden I have a solar bird feeder collection.
Coneflowers in my pet memorial garden.
Please share a story about and/or photo of your memorial gardens in the comments!
Bouquet of the Day
After no new blooms yesterday, I had 5 today. I am at about 35% bloom rate. Not great for mid-season but the plateau shaped peak in blooms continues. We will see where we are when the last daylily blooms.
Fairytale PinkMildred MitchellNearly WildClassy LadyOpen My Eyes
I had some vivid colors and some pastels today. And, an older near blue, Mildred Mitchell. The vivid orange of Nearly Wild and the deep maroon of Open My Eyes add stunning color to the collection. My pink girls – Fairytale Pink and Classy Lady – added a nice contrast.
Pet memorial ash leaf castings – click here for listing.
Cement Pet Memorial Plaque: Acrylic Pour and Solid Colors
I am playing with painting my cement dog/cat plaque memorials with pour acrylics. This is one I made yesterday. The lettering will be painted in a lighter color to make it more readable and other highlights added. I will get this listed as soon as possible, in the mean time if you are interested, please email me. I also can do custom colors if you prefer.
Process video of a pour acrylic pet memorial plaque.New Pour Acrylic StyleGreen Style AFlowered Style B
Garden and Holiday Gnomes: Pour Acrylic or Solid Colors
These garden gnomes are my “seconds” so I decided to try pour painting on them. I have 6 gnome styles (see slides below and click here for Etsy listing) and I am adding a couple new styles very soon. I normally paint them solid, traditional colors, but I will be adding some pour paint styles soon. Again, I can do custom colors – contact me via email or my Etsy shop.
Time For Nature
I’m headed off on a camping adventure tomorrow. It will be next weekend before I post, again, unless I do a post on wildflowers. You can follow our adventure at my travel blog – click here to visit and subscribe.
A Saturated Batch of Red Daylilies on a Hot Summer Day
I had a nice bouquet of reds for my first blooms of 2024 today. Red is high-intensity, like the sun is today. I’m actually doing my blog from the basement family room/winter nursery today. Why? Because I don’t have AC and my portable swamp coolers get overwhelmed when it is above 90. It’s 92 (feels like 99) today and 85 upstairs. It’s probably 10 degrees cooler downstairs, but the dogs are disoriented. I’m working to socialize them to the basement.
It is now mid-July. I may be at peak bloom with 65 that have bloomed for the year and 35 in bloom today. That’s a 33% bloom rate. Maybe we will make it to 66% for the year? Or, maybe we should just get our kicks camping on Route 66 this year.
Making Daylilies Work With Other Summer Hobbies
I wish I had a good recipe for making multiple summer-only hobbies work together. The Daylilies are seriously blooming from July 1st through mid to late August. But, daylilies are in bloom in my yard from early June through September or later. Pretty typical for zone 6 in Colorado, I think.
March – Hiking and early yard prep. I often do one day a week of each. I move the daylilies that wintered in the porch or patio back to their summer locations. I start hooking up irrigation systems and giving them some regular water.
July – I plan one camping trip and focus more on the daylilies.
August – My camping road trip becomes the focus – planning and executing. I’m still focused on the daylilies but losing momentum quickly. I want to get back to my other activities.
September – Daylilies are waning in blooms. The daylily pots may need work (new soil, etc) and I am also planting any new daylily roots that I ordered. Fall hiking starts, similar schedule to spring. I take a camping road trip to the 4-corners for several days as my camping finale.
October – If I am lucky, I still have a daylily in bloom here or there. Freeze is happening. Snow usually starts by the end of the month. I love my October canyon hikes.
November – Daylilies are leaf mulched for the winter. My semi-evergreens and evergreens may be moved to the lean-to for the winter.
Indian Giver
Managing Warm-Season Activities
How do you manage your multiple activities in the summer? It gets so crazy, that I lose my daylily momentum. I want to get back to putting energy into my business, etc – and I usually give up the blog and photos sooner than I plan to. I would like to hang in this year – until my last daylily blooms. Maybe not daily. I know daylily people who blog all year and never seem to tire of it. How on earth do you keep your momentum?
Pick Your Favorite Daylily this Summer (on Etsy)!
My daylily paintings bloom all year and require no fertilizer! Don’t miss my Until The Last Daylily Blooms sale on Etsy. Right now, my daylily paintings, prints, clocks, and pots are 25% off. I will be making new daylily art to add – but as you can see, it may be a month or so away. What is your favorite? I would love to know so I can make more! Follow the link or click the picture to see the listing.
It’s the time of the season for heat. The monsoons have evaporated for the last week or two. It’s 94 today, suppose to be 100 on Sunday. I wonder what the temp spike will do for my cultivators but also look forward to a mountain get-away from the heat wave next week.
Nurse’s Stethoscope
Buttered Popcorn, Anyone?
It’s odd to only have one first-of-the-season bloom on a day like today. But, perhaps a good day to think about Buttered Popcorn. Or maybe it is just that it is 5:30 already and I am getting hungry. Too hot to walk the dogs for an hour or so. Dinner is a ways off. Buttered popcorn – YES! Can I DoorDash that? LOL.
I am curious what other daylily photographers are using for their photos. I use to use my Canon Powershot and had no complaints. Except, I had to download the photos and edit them to upload them to my online drive. As my daylily collection grew, my time for photo editing shrunk.
All American Chief
I then shifted to my Kindle for a year or two because of the large screen for focus. It worked OK, but was an awkward size and getting the photos to the online drive was still a pain.
Papa Longlegs
Now, I use my Samsung Galaxy A52. The camera is decent. I honestly don’t see much difference between it and the Canon for my purposes, and I think it is better than the Kindle. It’s easy to upload to my online drive, share to social media, and even blog from my phone (although I prefer my PC for blogging.) Since I use my photos as a tracking method and daylily art reference, I find it adequate and time-efficient. I’m not after super high-quality photographic images to sell.
Pandora’s Box
I would love to hear from other daylily bloggers and photographers about their camera and daily photo process.
As with cats or dogs, the answer to the “how many daylilies is to many” question varies depending on the situation. I know daylily growers that have acres and acres of gorgeous flowers and they have the support to keep them healthy. For me, I won’t go above 200 varieties. (Of those varieties, I had 4 new ones today: “Fringe Benefit“, Collier, Holy Sombrero, and Hesperus. I will include photos throughout the text.)
“Fringe Benefit” was on the label of this bonus daylily. She isn’t Fringe Benefit, but I call her that, anyway.
Cimarron, Kachina, and Kokopelli at Monument Valley on our Southwest road trip.
How Many X Is Too Many?
So, what questions do I as myself about getting another dog/cat now?
Collier.
Is there enough physical space for them to be happy? Cats in small territories are stressed!
Are there financial resources to support them to live their best life? Food, vet, etc.
Is there enough time to take on the responsibility? Feeding, walking, litter cleaning. At the point that it feels like a burden more often than a joy, then I have likely crossed a line.
Are there regulations that limit the number of pets you can have in your home?
Back to Daylilies
The same rules apply to daylilies, really.
Holy Sombrero.
Is there adequate physical space in the garden or yard? This means space with good soil, water and sunshine.
It costs money to grow daylilies even if you get them for free. Soil, fertilizer, etc cost money. I grow in pots because my soil is so bad and my tree roots are aggressively competitive. So, I had to purchase nearly 200 pots that are at least 12 inches in diameter. $$$. I live in the high desert so I water daily – and I live downtown on City water. Water is another cost and financial limitation.
Timeis a big factor. It took hours and hours to dig 200 holes in clay soil and bury pots. The pots need winter care, soil, fertilizer, and weed management. I’m saving time on photography this year because my bloom rate is low (so far), but is that because I didn’t have time to do pot maintenance last year or to water last winter?
There are regulations – like property lines – that matter with daylilies. Or water restrictions. My Southwest Road Trip Garden is on the easement. My lot is small, there really isn’t a lot of other space for it. That’s another reason for pots, though, because the can be moved if the City has to dig. It is a limiting factor.
Hesperus.
It you have the space, money, time and aren’t violating any laws, then daylily addiction is perfectly legal. Go for it! There is even a Confessions of a Daylily Addict group on Facebook that you can join. (Yes, I am a member.)
Help Grow This Daylily Artist!
Don’t forget to check out the daylily art in my Etsy shop that is on-sale all summer, and into the fall (hopefully) – or until my last daylily blooms. I also have sales going on houseplants, hypertufa pots/art, and volume purchases. It really appreciate those who take a minute to click the link and visit my shop. I appreciate every click!!! I use my income to help afford my travel with my rescue dogs!
Bold TigerLittle GrapettePardon MeMoon Over ChimayoGlen Eyrie
Today, I had 5 new bloomers. I am just going to cut to the chase and post their photos: Bold Tiger, Pardon Me, Little Grapette,Moon Over Chimayo, and Glen Eyrie. The bottom row are my latest two Ned Roberts spiders. (I’m up to 15/70 in Neds that have bloomed.) Tomorrow, I may have more time to share my gardening life with you. For now, enjoy the pictures!
Midseason Monday brings only 2 first blooms for 2024 to the yard. The first is an older daylily, Prairie Blue Eyes. Even though she is a classic, Prairie Blue Eyes has a nice blue hue around the eye zone.
Prairie Blue Eyes
The second is one I got as a bonus called Nona’s Garnet Spider. She is a 90s girl. Nona is a petite spider that adds a nice red accent in my front path garden.
Nona’s Garnet Spider
It was a nice break in the flurry of midseason today. I had other things to get done today. Finding balance during peak season is always a challenge, and I don’t think I am at peak. This year may be more like a prolonged plateau until Fall.
To my fellow bloggers out there, what are your thoughts on AI? I have been using the Word Press AI feature for headlines and my stats seem to be up, but it also feels a little distant or impersonal. That said, it does save a little time. The excerpt is another time-saver, but again feels impersonal. I feel like the 3rd person.
I usually use Grammarly, but it hasn’t been running for a few days for some reason. I like the feedback it gives, generally speaking. I used it for my doctorate, also, and found it helpful – although it argues with the AI I use for my Etsy listings. I SMH with the bots arguing about grammar but using AI does seem to be increasing my Etsy traffic.
Bloggers – if you are using AI, do you think it is helping with traffic? If yes – why and how much???
I will be adding some new pieces before the summer is over. I plan to do some daylily paintings over a marbled acrylic pour background. I will be talking more about my process in the next few weeks!
Colorado Kid Daylilies 