What an interesting year! Not only have I reached semi-retirement age, I am having an amazing daylily bloom year. The drip systems with miracle grow soil replacement paid off in spades. It is honestly overwhelming because it takes an hour just to photograph them. I spend about 5 hours a day (not counting the painting) on daylilies right now.
I would not call this a peak – because on 7/3 we hit 60. It has been in the 50s and 60s each day since. And . . . drumroll . . . today I had 63. Last year, I charted the peak and it was clearly one day at 40, the other days were 20s at best. Granted, I was on vacation the last 2 years this week, but I think the numbers are an accurate reflection of a short, less intense peak. This isn’t a peak, it is a Southwest Mesa – and a grand one, at that.
I had 6 premiers today. Laudy. Here they are:
Quilt Patch 7.9 – I am headlining this one because I got her on the auction at the same time I got Kokopelli. The start of being a serious hobbiest. I put her in a different pilot garden and she almost died – she became a seedling in size. I moved her to a pot out front after a year out there and put her in the front garden. Each year, she gets a little stronger. Today, the first ever bloom came. Now I see why I had to have her!Blue Beat 7.9 – One of my early near blues. I must say it is my near blues that need repotting once we get over the Grand Mesa and things settle down. They are not at their best this year. Cherokee Star 7.9 – A pretty velvet cultivator that fits with my Southwest collection. She is from the local nursery.Iktomi – This is a classic Robert’s spider. I see his DNA in so many of his hybrids. Reminds me of Chaco Canyon but I also see Apache Bandana and Black Arrowhead.Rocky Mountain Pals 7.9 – Another Roberts cultivator. I understand it was named for his cancer treatment team in Denver.Rosie’s Red – Another cool bonus bloomer who is usually one of the later bloomers in the front garden. This year, she is at the top of the Mesa with everyone else.
That’s all folks! Off to paint some daylilies in the basement while the temps reach 100 today.
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High, hot and a hell of a lot is a type of enema that nurses use to give more frequently than we do today. I had to learn about them in school many years ago. Suffice it to say you put a lot of water (with soap) in an enema bucket and hang it high so gravity does its thing. Oh, and make that water hot just to give it an extra twist.
For some reason the words came to mind when thinking about my garden today. Not enemas – but altitude, temperature and the number of cultivators I had today. Almost 60, again. So, the peak this year is more like the Grand Mesa . . . you get to the top but it plateaus for a while before it starts going down.
As far as new blooms today – I had two birds. Maybe I should have titled this “Giving you the birds” or something. These are both Roberts spiders.
7/8 Aztec Firebird – one of my original 3 Southwestern daylilies in my garden pilot. I had it, Kokopelli and Dream Catcher only the first year. Big lesson when I enlarged it is that where you water large surface areas, you attract lots of tree roots. I love the bright colors of the Aztec bird – she is a little late this year. The daylilies that thrived the most in-ground are pretty slow to bloom this year, whereas those that were being strangled in roots before bloomed early and lots.Raven Woodsong – I love the color of this one.
And – while not a premier, Chief Four Fingers finally had a picture perfect bloom. The bugs got the early buds but it got better when I improved the water flow so the plant got stronger.
Chief Four Fingers perfect bloom (or close)
I painted another painting last night – Canyon Colors. I have put a lot of energy into my art business the last couple of days so I can get some inventory built up. I plan more than daylily paintings, but I am starting there because I have done more of them than anything else and it is a good way to get my skills back. Yesterday, I worked on lighting for the Art Cove. Today, I got tiles, oil paints, and canvas. Please follow my business page (link at bottom) for more info.
My Art Cove – back in business!
As far as finales – I may go to once a week because it is too confusing when I have 60 in bloom. Easier to do when I cut spent scapes once a week.
It was a day of fewer premiers today. That was actually kind of nice – although, I had 56 total in bloom. I think 40 was my top bloom day on 7/2 last year. Maybe the peak will last a while longer this year?
Anyway – the common thread between the premiers today is that they are all BIG yellow flowers. I feel like photography robs them of their significance because it takes away the perspective. The first half of June is little, simple yellow flowers. Then comes the color diversity. And, in July, the Yellow Monsters arrive.
The three today are Happy Hopi (another Roberts spider), Holy Sombrero (an old bonus with huge ruffled blooms), and Buttered Popcorn (a new “local nursery” addition this year). Other giant yellow of July are Hesperus (waiting to bloom) and Cheddar Cheese (who is in bloom, but not today). There are some other notable yellow bloomers that are not small – Mount Echo Sunrise (fairly pale yellow), Lady Fingers, Cripple Creek, Skinwalker, Desert Icicle, Taco Twister and Navajo Curls. Maybe I will do a post on that collection once they all hatch. These aren’t trumpets – they are monsters!
Here are today’s premiers:
Buttered Popcorn 7.7Happy Hopi 7.7Holy Sombrero 7.7Size comparison – Holy Sombrero next to my cell phone.
My routine is the same – I get up and take the photos with cell and camera following the same path everyday so I don’t miss anything (too often). Then I post to Facebook from my phone. I download photos from the Powershot and write the blog. Downloading the photos is painful because I get so sleepy – like fighting drugs but I don’t that that is from my thyroid tablet – just the heat.
Finales: I believe Orchid Moonrise is at finale. I will check for others as I cut scapes this week.
Orchid Moonrise – 7.7 Finale
Oh, I got past my painter’s block and did a small coaster of Land of Enchantment. Not my best ever, but a start. I am keeping her as a symbol of getting unstuck and being semi retired! If you are interested in purchasing a daylily tile, please reach out to cathy.hartt55@gmail.com and or follow my Facebook page (link below).
I’ve been intrigued by the show Hoarders this year. IDK why, because I hate reality TV. Maybe it is because I have a 1st degree family member who struggles with this. Maybe because I needed to feel something with human emotions. Maybe my own home needed some cleaning and decluttering. Maybe just to kill time.
What is the difference between hoarding daylilies and collecting daylilies – that is my question. I guess that if your garden has labels, is watered and weeded, and you take photos everyday – that is probably a collection. Hoarding would probably be a back yard full of disorganized pots with some live and dead plants – and you can’t move anywhere because the pots are everywhere. Bugs . . . well, I have a few of those but my guess it isn’t like a hoard. Some of my daylilies are named after bugs, though. Is there such thing as a daylily hoard?
I have collections within my collection. My favorite collection is my Ned Roberts cultivators. I have ordered these from far and wide to form my collection. The other, overlapping, collection is my Southwest names collection. Some of these were bonuses sent with my Roberts collection because the names were Southwestern – so they go with my Ned Roberts collection. My original collection was those available at local nurseries. I have a collection with family names for my grandma, mom, dad, daughters and grandkids. The list goes on. If I kept adding, I think it could become a hoard. Daylilies are too much work to have too many!
I have had 94 bloom so far this year and 7 more premiers today. Here they are:
Baby Blue Eyes – 7.6- added to my near blues collection (yes, I have one of those, too) a couple years ago.Black Arrowhead – 7.6 – A distinctive Ned Roberts Southwestern spider.Blackthorne – 7.6 – This cultivator is from my original local nurseries collection and this is the first bloom in many years.Cheyenne Eyes – 7.6 – A big, lanky Roberts spider.Chorus Line – 7.6 – A pretty pastel from a local nursery.Classy Lady – 7.6 – IDK, maybe she came from the auction?Melon Balls – 7.6.1 – A sweet little bonus from my early collecting years.
Finales – Yesterday was the finale of Purple Moonrise.
Purple Moonrise 7.5
I counted about 50 with scapes that haven’t bloomed. I think we will hit at least 80% this year. I need to move my daylily software over to my other computer to be sure, though.
This time of year, it feels like daylilies are my life. I have had about 30 blooms in the garden for several days. Yesterday, we hit 40. Today, we hit 60!. It took me almost an hour just to photograph them – let alone photo editing and posting. Last night, I took a lot of photos of fireworks – It felt very similar in my garden today. A few pauses, but mostly lots of action. Do I think we are at peak – no. But it is getting closer.
Here are the premiers for today. Hang on – there are 10 (so about 80 cultivators have bloomed so far). Today, there were several of my favorite hybridizer’s blooms that opened (Ned Roberts). Daylily season is like Christmas . . . the peak is a little overwhelming. At the same time, it is like old friends who visit once a year.
Chokecherry Mountain 7.5 (A Ned Roberts Spider)Feather Woman 7.5 (A Ned Roberts spider)Heavenly Curls – one of my favorite bonus daylilies!Longlesson Show-off – Not one of my favorite bonus daylilies, but the bloom looked fuller and more colorful today than usual. Maybe the soil change and drip system.Medicine Feather – A lanky Ned Roberts spiderAnother bonus – Nona’s Garnet Spider – I have always liked her.Pueblo Dancer – 7.5 – another Roberts spider but I have always questioned her ID. Her blooms are larger this year with the soil change!Ruby Stella 7.5Strutter’s Ball – 7.5 – a late bloom start for this long-time member of my daylily packTalon – 7.5 Another old friend from my Roberts collection
Finales have started to add up a little, too. I missed Platinum Pink Palette Whispers. Today was the last of Funny Valentine’s show for 2021.
Platinum Pink finale 7.2Funny Valentine finale 7.5
Wholly cow! This took all day. It’s 4:30! Hopefully, I got the bugs worked out of my back-up system so it doesn’t take as long tomorrow. I gotta get painting and get my business inventory going! Follow my business blog for updates, too.
Today started with a parade and will end with fireworks. Must be July 4th, In between, I visited my daylilies. I think in July in Colorado (or the desert States) that we should call them 7-11 lilies, because after about 11 AM, the blooms start to melt. I mean, they literally look like melting wax to me. Our UV is just so high for them here when the humidity drops towards the single digits. Maybe that is why I take so many photos and paint the blooms. There is no hanging out with them all day because it is just too hot and I melt, too.
Anyway – I had 43 in bloom today, including 3 premiers. No finales today. Oh, and add Maya Cha Cha = who premiered yesterday but I missed her photo with the camera. I actually take pictures with both cell and camera. I post the cell shots to my Facebook page ASAP. That is a great back-up to the camera and helps me remember what is what if I get behind on camera shots. Maya is on the phone yesterday, but not in my computer library. I guess that puts us at 76, which is a patriotic number.
Bella Lugosi premier 7.4Just Plum Happy premier 7.4 – One of my very first daylilies. I divided her and put half in the boarder garden. The potted half died this year, but the one in the ground is doing OK.Lullaby Baby premier 7.4 – a favorite pastel daylilyMaya Cha Cha premier 7.3Pink Enchilada premier 7.4Pink Rain Dance premier 7.4
It is hard to believe only 40% of my daylilies have bloomed. I probably have a dozen or so without scapes so who knows if they will skip or be late? If they don’t bloom – that means we have 92 more premiers and our bloom rate will be 93%. That’s an A in my book. I am just waiting for water cost to shoot up because they declared a state of drought emergency in my part of the State yesterday.
Finally caught-up taking photos off my camera. Never let that go for a week or two this time of year – you play heck catching-up. So, I thought I would get the blog fully up-to date by sharing our July 1-3 premier blooms for this year. Enjoy. Hopefully, tomorrow I start get back in daily sync. The good news is I got my art cove all cleaned, decluttered and added some fun stuff. That means the daylily paintings are coming – for sale through my business Art and Nature From the Hartt http://artandnaturefromthehartt.com
Bella Boo premier 7.2Black Eyed Susan premier 7.2Black Ice premier 7.2Candy Cane Dreams premier 7.1Cheddar Cheese premier 7.3Coral Taco premier 7.2Cricket Call premier 7.3Fol de Rol premier 7.3Jungle Queen premier 7.1Lacey Doily premier 7.3Papa Long Legs premier 7.2Prairie Blue Eyes premier 7.1Prelude to Love premier 7.3Route 66 premier 7.1Santa Fe Christmas premier 7.2Soco Gap premier 7.2Thin Man premier 7.3Wild Rose Fandango premier 7.1
That’s 18 more in 3 days (wholly cow)! That brings our total to 70 that have bloomed so far. Happy 4th – hope to post the morning daylilies tomorrow.
I’m back! My house is cleaner and I feel like I can pick-up the blog, again. Don’t worry, I spent my usual amount of time with my daylilies in the AM. I love getting photos of them – something to get out of bed for. After three years of a stressful job and a commute, I just had to clean because my poor home has been like a neglected garden. I needed to pull weeds and plant some new seeds.
I am going to show off my June blooms (A to Z) for June in this post. I am going to have a good bloom rate this year and it sort of scares me what peak will be like with all my plants so happy. Good thing the house is clean. I count 51 cultivators for June 2021. Last year, it was 50 in June – so close. I think I have about 180 cultivators now – almost 30% have bloomed.
Alabama Jubilee – premiered 6.26All American Chief premiered 6.22Apache Bandana premiered 6.30Big Red Rhyme (my NOID name for her) premiered 6.22Canyon Colors premiered 6.15Catherine Irene premiered 6.24Chaco Canyon premiered 6.27Chief Four Fingers premiered 6.27 (with some bug damage but more buds ahead)Comanche Princess premiered 6.18Dream Keeper premiered 6.11, finale was 7.1Early Bird Cardinal premiered 6.27Echo Canyon premiered 6.21“Fringe Benefit” premiered 6.27 (mislabeled bonus but I still call her that)Funny Valentine premiered 6.20Happy Returns – I believe the real cultivator is yellow and some of my gold ones are actually Stella – this one premiered 6.25Hopi Jewel premiered 6.27Indian Giver premiered 6.30Inwood premiered 6.22Kachina Dancer premiered 6.30Kokopelli premiered 6.25Lady Fingers premiered 6.23Land of Enchantment premiered 6.23Mauna Loa premiered 6.27Mesa Verde premiered 6.15Mini Pearl premiered 6.26Mount Echo Sunrise premiered 6.28Nurse’s Stethoscope (the only registered daylily I helped to name) premiered 6.24Ojo de Dios premiered 6.28Orchid Moonrise premiered 6.17Pardon Me premiered 6.30Passionate Returns premiered 6.28Petite Petticoats premiered 6.26Pink and Cream premiered 6.24Platinum Pink Pallet Whispers premiered 6.21Primal Scream premiered 6.25Purple Grasshopper premiered 6.11Purple Moonrise (larger bloom on the R, to the left is Orchid Moonrise) premier bloom 6.15Purple Mystic (my name for NOID) premiered 6.24Red Riddle (my name for NOID) premiered 6.23Return a Smile premiered 6.25Ruby Spider premiered 6.22Santa’s Pants premiered 6.26Saratoga Springtime premier 6/3, finale 6.23 – The star of early daylily season. A big, fancy yellow trumpet.Scorpio premier 6.26, finale 6.29. Only two buds for the first bloom ever after 5 years in my yard.South Seas premier 6.30Stella premier 6.7 and dwindling – I don’t think we have a finale yet but maybe.Stephanie Returns premier 6.30The Colorado Kid premier 6.23Wild Horses premier 6.15Yellow Punch premier 6.15Yellow Stella premier 6.18
Let’s close the book on June for 2021 – It’s a wrap!
Today, I didn’t feel semi-retired. I had a meeting until noon and then more meetings to set up for the next few days. It’s interesting work, but likely won’t change the outcome.
I ran out quickly before the meeting started to photograph my blooms. It’s definitely daylily season. I was almost late to the web meeting.
I went out later and found my blog mascot, The Colorado Kid, had a bloom on a short scape that I missed this morning. I hate being rushed in the morning this time of year.
At any rate, several premieres to add to 2021. My drip system and repotting is resulting in mostly happy plants. There are a couple that are too crowded. I’m thinking of putting little red flags in the ones with no scapes. I’ll pull them is I see a scape. At the end, I’ll have the non bloomers marked and can make adjustments for next time.
6.23 – Lady Fingers – one of my early xeriscaping landscape plants6.23 – Land of Enchantment is a daylily that lives up to her name.6.23 – My blog mascot – The Colorado Kid. She looks better earlier in the day.Red Riddle – another unmarked cultivator originally from my backyard garden.
Several more are very close. Hopefully, the hint of rain we got this evening will bring some blooms.
This will be a short post after a long day. I call this post “yoga” because Dream Keeper was doing yoga this AM. That’s what I feel like trying to get photos and not break scapes. Dream Keeper is more graceful looking.
I just wanted to share my premiers for today.
All American Chief Purple Moonrise – another premiere-premiere that been in the yard several years without blooming. Red Mystery- a daylily with no name tag that I saved from my backyard. Inwood – I’ve had her several years. Good to see her again. What I look like taking daylily photos early in the morning.
Colorado Kid Daylilies 