Daylily Days Keep the Doctor Away

June 27, 2018Leave a comment

Daylilies are happy beings. They bring smiles to the faces of passersby. They give me something to look forward to all year . . . and every day. I am sure they are good for my health. Well, other than not enough sleep for a few weeks every year during peak.

Today, the doctor (well, nurse practitioner) was not kept away. Time for a visit to check on some things. Not all the news was good. I am once again reminded that all my extra energy now needs to go into a resilience plan. The daylilies are part of that plan.

So, I had a few new blooms today. I think my favorite is Chokecherry Mountain. It is another Ned Roberts spider. I wasn’t sure at first if that name was really Southwestern – but I think it is named after a Mountain in Nevada, so that is good enough for me. I love the patterns in the pedals.

Soco Gap also appeared in the Southwest Garden today. Soco Gap is a Native American name and she was a gift plant my year of the pilot out there. I stuck her small fans between 2 yuccas. It was quite a surprise the first year when she got as big as the yuccas. I can’t dig her up now without stabbing myself, so she stays.

Another favorite is Thin Man. This was one of my first mail order daylilies. I really had no idea the roots generally don’t bloom for a season, sometimes longer. Thin Man has been a reliable bloomer. I totally love the shape of this guy!

Ruby Stella was one I added to the pot with Route 66. She bloomed forever the first year – into November. No blooms last year. She is in the Rain Barrel Garden, so she gets her drip, drip, drip now. Curious to see is she does her late-blooming act this year.

Pink and Cream was a Lowe’s daylily that I picked up last year with Yellow Punch. These are Stella hybrids. Pink and Cream is my favorite of the two. I like her flowing shape.

That’s all folks. The other blooms today were Talon, Comanche Princess, Navajo Rodeo, Apache Bandana, Indian Love Call, Pueblo Dancer, Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, The Colorado Kid, Happy Returns, Stella, Jungle Queen, Route 66, Funny Valentine, Dark Mystery, Platinium Palette Pink Whispers, Wineberry Candy, Nurse’s Stethoscope, Zuni Eye, Pink Rain Dance, and Hopi Jewel. Goodness, we are not even at peak yet, though the Southwest Garden is right on the cusp of that stage. I am bummed the bugs got all but one bud on Rocky Mountain Pals. Overall, though, it hasn’t been a bad bug year.

Monday Flower Power

June 26, 2018June 26, 2018Leave a comment

OMG, how did it get to be 10:30 PM? Anyway – the day started as usual in the daylily gardens. Three new faces today for 2018. It was about 10 AM that my power crashed . . . right as I was starting to make my calls to students. Our work phone system goes through the internet . . . and so everything was dead. Well, except my dying cell phone that was hooked up to my charger. From there, I tried to follow my calendar and make calls or send texts on my personal cell. Of course, how much I could actually do with my notes and scheduler was very limited. Power was out nearly 2 hours, took a while to catch up.

That said, I guess I survived my morning with flower power. PS – I think that is why my phone batteries were so low when the power went out.

New blooms today – well, my old buddy Route 66 bloomed for the first time in 2018. I got her after a roadtrip to Route 66 a few years back . . . before I ordered online. So, I was at a local nursery and sort of stunned to see the name on a daylily. She came home and was in a planter in the driveway area for a couple years, but water was inconsistent. So, last year, I added the rain barrel and solar drip system – now this is the Rain Barrel Garden. Route 66 is doing so much better the year. She had 3 big blooms today. She was the one to open my eyes to place named daylilies! After that, I was hooked.

Route 66 6/25

Cheyenne Eyes was a brand new face in the Southwest Garden. She is another pretty Ned Roberts spider. Reminds me of a Native American rug design. It is her first bloom ever in my yard . . . another 3rd year is the charm. I have to tell you that I love the huge blooms out there. They really draw attention to the area that is a ways away from the sidewalk.

Cheyenne Eyes 6/25

And, Inwood is a first bloom for 2018 today. I have had her for a few years. She bloomed year 1 but not year 2. Not enough water or sun, I decided. Now she is thriving back in the Mural Garden on the drip system.

Inwood 6/25

As for tomorrow, more flower power. I don’t know how many – but estimate 30 or so. Oh, today’s other bloomers were Dream Keeper, Apache Bandana, Comanche Princess, Zuni Eye, Canyon Colors, Purple Many Faces, Treasure of the Southwest, Pink Rain Dance, Laughing Feather, Mesa Verde, Bluegrass Music, The Colorado Kid, Funny Valentine, Happy Returns, Ruby Spider, Return a Smile, Wild Horses, Purple Mystique, Red Riddle, Dark Mystery, Prairie Blue Eyes, and Stella de Oro.

Horses, Canyons, Rodeos, and Our Blooms for the Week!

June 25, 2018Leave a comment

Summer is here! I got home from camping 6 hours ago and am still trying to get everything done for the weekend! When I don’t take photos in the morning, the blooms are pretty sunburned by noon. And we had wind today. And single digit humidity. So, for today there were 5 new blooms.

Wild Horses is a favorite, dependable bloomer. I have had her 3 years and she puts on quite a show. Can you see the wild horses in her pattern?

Wild Horses 6/24

So, Chaco Canyon bloomed when we returned from this same camping adventure last year. I love her stripes!

Chaco Canyon 6/24

A brand new face for this year is Navajo Rodeo. Waiting 3 years to see some of these has taken patience. She reminds me of Talon, but redder. I am sure they are related.

Navajo Rodeo 6/24

Ruby Spider is one of my oldest blooms, and always a favorite. She is huge, and oh so red!

Ruby Spider 6/24

And little Happy Returns is back. She is such a delicate little yellow trumpet.

Happy Returns 6/24

And there is the long roster (with photos) of all or our blooms from 6/18 through today:

Bluegrass Music 6/21

Canyon Colors 6/21

Comanche Princess 6/22

Dark Mystery 6/20

Dream Keeper 6/22

Funny Valentine 6/19

Holy Sombrero 6/22

Hopi Jewel 6/20

Indian Love Call 6/20

Jungle Queen 6/20

Kokopelli 6/19

Laughing Feather 6/19

Mesa Verde 6/22

Nurse’s Stethoscope 6/21

Painted Petroglyph 6.21

Pink Rain Dance 6/22

Platinum Palate Pink Whispers 6/22

Prairie Blue Eyes 6/19

Pueblo Dancer 6/22

Purple Many Faces 6/22

Purple Mystic 6/20

Red Riddle 6/21

Return a Smile 6/19

Saratoga Springtime 6/21

Stella de Oro 6/19

Talon 6/21

The Colorado Kid 6/22

Treasure of the Southwest 6/21

Wineberry Candy 6/24

Yellow Punch 6/22

Zuni Eye 6/20

So far, that makes 36 that have bloomed in the yard. Of 170-something. 21% or so of my cultivators have bloomed so far. Tomorrow, it looks like more new faces will join the count!

Appreciation of Nature, Beauty

June 23, 2018Leave a comment

Friday. Finally. I had a ton of blooms today. Over 20. And, now, I’m camping under the stars in the National Forest about 50 miles from my yard. I’ll miss tomorrow’s blooms, but will catch the ones on Sunday. It’s worth it to get away from the routine for a few hours. It’s quiet here due to the drought and burn ban.

So, back to daylilies from this morning. I had 4 new ones. Pueblo Dancer, another Ned Roberts spider, gave me only a couple anemic blooms last year. This year, she is still too scrawny, but herblooms are much prettier.

Apache Bandana is another of Ned’s blooms. I love her dark color and long petals. It’s her first ever bloom for me.

Speaking of droughts, Pink Rain Dance, another of Ned’s spiders, bloomed for the first time today. I hope she brings the monsoons.

And, Holy Sombrero was another first ever bloom from a gift plant I put on 2 years ago. Her huge yellow bloom is amazing.

It’s funny, because I arranged that garden to have the taller blooms in back. It seems like the ones in the front row age taller that average, and the ones in the back are shorter.

The sun is going down, my melatonin is kicking in. I’ll be back Sunday with all my bloomers for the week.

The Longest Daylily: Nurse’s Stethoscope

June 22, 2018Leave a comment

Drum roll . . . the day has come for the one and only daylily that I ever helped to name to bloom for the first time in my yard. Nurse’s Stethoscope was born one day during the “Show me your stethoscope” incident on The View. The incident went viral, and somehow my brain synapsed that Nurse’s Stethoscope would be a cool daylily name. So, I suggested it on the National Daylily Society Facebook page. And, from there one of the hybridizers with a medical background found a seedling and registered the name. She may not be the longest daylily, but it is Summer Solstice and she is a BIG bloom. She is my most expensive daylily . . . but I just had to have her as my self-nurturing with my annual bonus money.

I also had another mystery daylily open from the smaller pot of noID daylilies from the old back corner garden. She is cute – kind of generic looking red daylily with striped petals. I named her Red Riddle. I suspect she may be a common one named Red Volunteer but there are so many, I doubt that I will ever know for sure.

It was a busy day, as solstice usually is in the daylily gardens. (And, an 11 hour work day.) Bloomers today were Treasure of the Southwest, Purple Many Faces, Canyon Colors, Comanche Princess, Talon, Hopi Jewel, noID Dark Mystery, Wineberry Candy, Bluegrass Music, The Colorado Kid, Saratoga Springtime, Mesa Verde, Stella de Oro, Funny Valentine and Return a Smile. Stay tuned for photos of all our bloomers for the week on Sunday.

Tomorrow is my early work day – then I leave camping. Between now and work at 8 AM, I need to take a bath, pack, sleep, and take photos of about 20 cultivators that look ready to pop. Some cool new ones – like Holy Sombrero and Pink Raindance. And, so, Happy Solstice to all, and to all a goodnight!

Twas the Night Before Solstice

June 21, 2018Leave a comment

It was a busy day in the garden. I had 15 in bloom. That means, when I get off work at 9 PM, I am running on empty and I have a lot of photos to edit. They are a joy and I need to sleep. So, I will keep it short.

Jungle Queen bloomed today for the first time in 2018. She was one of my first Daylily Auction purchases. I bought 3 daylilies (Jungle Queen, Quilt Patch, and Classy Lady) to learn how the system worked before it was time for the bids on Kokopelli to close. I got all 4. I love her big blooms. I divided her last year and now have 2 pots in different places. Should spread the blooms out over more weeks.

And, Painted Petroglyph produced a few buds with misshapen flowers. I added her in the fall of 2016. Today was her first attempt to bloom. The insects obviously picked on her and her blooms are smaller than they should be. That likely means something is making her roots weak. She is in the section that didn’t all get put in buried pots. I need to make a note to myself to dig her up and pot her this fall. Probably some big tree root right there or something. But, she is trying . . . at least she bloomed this year. That is something. The bugs have been fairly low key this year with the spray, so they picked a weaker plant to eat. I need to spray again, though.

Other bloomers today were Zuni Eye, Treasure of the Southwest, Purple Many Faces, Indian Love Call, Hopi Jewel, Mesa Verde, Blue Grass Music, Purple Mystique (no ID), Dark Mystery (no ID), Platinium Palet Pink Whispers, The Colorado Kid, Wineberry Candy, and Stella. Tomorrow is the BIG day – the first bloom of Nurse’s Stethoscope – it’s half open already. I can’t wait!

Juneteenth!

June 20, 2018Leave a comment

Tis the 19th day of June. I lived in Galveston, Texas for a few years and read the book by that name (Juneteenth). Freedom from slavery . . . it was a big deal. It is a good day to celebrate with flowers. And, we are only two days from the beginning of spring. It is a good time to reflect on freedoms.

Today, three more new faces join the chorus that is starting in my yard. The first is another Ned Roberts spider – Laughing Feather. I really love the dark color of this one. And, it totally looks like a feather! Another one that is going on 3 summers here with a first-ever bloom. Worth the wait.

Laughing Feather 6/19

Return a Smile always adds some real color to my early blooms in the Walkway and Mural Gardens. I love her because she reminds me of positive psychology!

Return A Smile 6/19

And, a Lowe’s special from last year – Yellow Punch – is back. This is a Stella offspring that is much prettier than Stella to me. And, last year, proved to be a better rebloomer.

Yellow Punch 6/19

Oh, I almost forgot, another bloom from the mystery no-ID pot from the old back garden. Those daylilies back there went back to seedling size over a couple years – poor soil, insects, infrequent water, not much sun. Two years ago, I pulled the seedlings up and replanted them in slightly better soil and cut back some of the surrounding shrubs. When I did that, I separated some of the small fans from one-another. They did slightly better. Last year, I also experimented with putting one in a pot in the Walkway Garden. Well, it got big and bloomed in one season – Prairie Blue Eyes was the obvious ID. I have another in the Rainbarrel Garden – so it was easy to recognize. So, last fall, I put all the separated fans that were left in a big pot (a couple are in a smaller pot). This makes it a mystery or potpourri of daylilies. Who knows what fans ended up with what other fans?

So far, I have had no idea the ID of those cultivators so I named them Dark Mystery and Purple Mystique. Today, I decided this one could be Lavender Enigma. As the day wore on, it started looking more and more like a fan of Prairie Blue Eyes. So, I call her Prairie Blue Eyes Enigma.

Prairie Blue Eyes 6/19

Other bloomers today where Purple Many Faces, Indian Love Call, Mesa Verde, Kokopelli, Hopi Jewel, Comanche Princess, Saratoga Springtime, Stella de Oro, Funny Valentine. Sadly, today was Kokopelli’s last bloom for the year – she kicked off quite a show since 6/2! That makes 25 cultivators so far this year. I think Jungle Queen and Nurse’s Stethoscope are up next. Maybe a couple others. Should be another 12+ bloom day tomorrow. I have an early meeting, so it is bedtime!

The Colorado Kid: Our blooming mascot

June 19, 20182 Comments

“Monday, Monday. So good to me.” When it comes to new blooms – the song rings true. I feel the peak drawing close now.

First of all, our blog mascot The Colorado Kid had her first 2018 bloom. She seems to do well in my yard in a pot. Many hybridizers say they don’t get the color that I get. She is one of my near blues. I love her deep colors so much. Of course, her name is why I chose her. Then, the blog got named after here. This is her 3rd year blooming here!

The Colorado Kid 6/18

Then, Zuni Eye, one of my Ned Roberts southwest named daylilies bloomed for the first time ever here. So many of his are spiders. But she is a big, big round bloom. I think I am in love! She has been here 2-3 years, and she apparently likes the improvements to the Southwest Garden. Today, I finally met her.

Zuni Eye 6/18

Zuni Eye next to my hand

The other new bloom is out of the no-ID pot from the back corner garden. I named the first one Dark Mystery. This is the second cultivator from that big pot. I am calling her Purple Mystique.

“Purple Mystique” (No-ID)

So, today I shift to only sharing new blooms. I will have the full list for the week with photos each weekend. FYI, the other blooms today were Dark Mystery, Saratoga Springtime, Purple Many Faces, Comanche Princess, Stella de Oro, and Treasure of the Southwest.

I have had 20 cultivators bloom thus far this year – of 170. So, just over 10%. By this date last year, I had 7 that had bloomed. I have added a handful more, but I think I had 160 or so last year. So, less than 5%. It is all the Southwest Garden, the Border Garden and the Rainbarrel Garden that is boosting the total. All of those were added or greatly upgraded last year when I decided to stop buying new daylilies and help the ones that I have to thrive.

I think tomorrow is going to be busy at 6:30 AM. Good night!

Mountain Daylily Time

June 17, 2018Leave a comment

My current faculty position has me talking with students all over the United States – every time zone in the continental US. I have to type my time zone and theirs into every note – twice. This meeting and next meeting times. I think a lot about time zones!

Daylily season brings a profound shift in my off-time schedule during the week. I wake up earlier to take photos. I also have to spray the orchids most mornings. I prefer it when I can go for a run before work, too. That means I am dead by the time I get off at 8 PM. I walk the dogs, blog, go to bed. And, the more blooms, the earlier I need to set my clock. That is Mountain Daylily Time.

So, I surpassed 10 blooms in the yard today with some cool, new Ned Roberts southwest named spiders. I love these flowers! Talon has been with me going on 3 summers and has never bloomed. The first year, she tried, but they dried up. It is surprising that the blooms are this huge. I organized my garden by the hight listed by the hybridizer. This is in the front row – but it is Huge. Can you see the talons?

Talon 6/17

Comanche Princess was a new add last fall after my first one died. I like her curls! It is beyond cool to finally get to see these blooms 3 years later.

Comanche Princess

The other first bloom (for this year – she usually blooms well) is Funny Valentine. She has a million buds this year! This is the first bloom in my side porch! It is interesting, because I always thought of this area as my first bloom cycle area – hot, light. The flowers just grew to maturity more quickly than the walkway garden out front. With the tree gone and the new systems in the Southwest Garden – this is my new first bloom area. Also, the driveway Rain Barrel Garden pots are now in the equation (added last year).

Funny Valentine

Other blooms today are as follows (some are tattered from the rain we got during the night):

Dark Mystery 6/17

Kokopelli 6/17

Indian Love Call 6/17

Canyon Colors 6/17

Purple Many Faces 6/17

Wineberry Candy 6/17

Stella de Oro 6/17

Saratoga Springtime 6/17

PS – Starting tomorrow, I will only blog about the new daylilies in bloom (including first bloom for 2018) for the day, but will list all the bloomers. On Saturday or Sunday each week, I will add photos of all the bloomers for the week in my blog (with the date of bloom). I will try to pick the best photo of each. New year, new system! Pilot. Because it is Mountain Daylily Time!

Today, the Rain Came

June 17, 2018June 30, 2019Leave a comment

Today the rain came. Not much rain . . . but enough to wet the soil and put some drops on the peddles of my bloomers. It was cool, I worked in daylily labels. I decided to put the same metal labels i have in the Southwest garden in all my daylilies. I have too many, I gotta tell you. Anyway, I ended up short labels for every daylily, so need to reorder. My plastic labels did not hold up for year 3 – and I rearranged some of the plants in the walkway garden. So, I have a few I won’t be sure of until the blooms come. But, progress.

Today, I had the first 2018 bloom on Mesa Verde. This flower was chosen because of her name. Yes, once I figured out a lot had cool southwestern names, I went out of my way to find her. The bloom is one of the most ruffly in my collection. She didn’t even open all the way today . . . maybe the rain and cool weather. Anyway, the bloom was in the division I put in the Southwest garden last fall. My pot isn’t that close yet.

Mesa Verde 6/16

And, another very cool flower – Hope Jewel – opened in the Southwest Garden. I love the colors on this one. She was a gift plant a couple years ago. She bloomed in 2016 and 2017, but her anemic looking blooms last year were one of my motivators to do the buried pots out there.