Sick Day Bouquet

August 15, 2017August 15, 2017Leave a comment

Today, I ended up taking half the day off as a sick day. It makes me feel guilty to write a blog with the smattering of photos I managed this AM. But, believe me, the 4 hours of hard sleep and other viral symptoms are as real as the beauty of the flower. My first sick day in the year I have worked there . . . well, almost a year. I’m sure my crazy shifts in the yard added to the exhaustion.

Of course, there are no new blooms today. I sort of like the fall in daylily-ville, because you don’t have to look as hard to be sure you didn’t miss one.

This weekend is camping weekend. I also hope to get the daylily roots washed for my coworkers so I can mail them on Wednesday next week. I have a few more divisions to do . . . some of my co-workers down South will do better with the evergreens. I just haven’t gotten that far yet. And, I have a musical pots thing that needs to happen. But, before that MORE garden soil to buy. Jeez.

In thinking of next year, I think I will pull two of my three Stellas completely out of their pots and add divisions of Pink & Cream and Yellow Punch. They have earned their stripes as pretty rebloomers this year. The color and shape is better than Stella.

With all these pots, next year I may have a daylily yard sale. I love to give them away. And, if the pots do well, I will have more than enough for that. So, maybe a little one-day sale or something. I need to think about it. Anyone with any experience out there? Or is online better?

For winter, I want to blog more about my poinsettias, orchids, and Amaryllis. I actually may look at other Christmas bloomers. I got the coolest Mexican pottery at . . . Walmart. It was a few weeks ago . . . amazing prices. Anyway, thinking of some winter wonder bloomers in there. Ah, it is time to sleep, again.

Just A Flower I Can Help Along

August 14, 2017Leave a comment

Today was the day I finally got the Southwestern Garden mostly redone. What a lot of work . . . seriously, my back is DONE digging for a bit. I thought it might be fun to show a couple photos. So, this side is the one I have been working on. All but a handful of daylilies now rests within a nursery pot that is buried under ground. These ones have been trimmed so that they can focus on some new roots before freeze.

And, this is the other side, where the daylilies are blooming size. Much happier than the other side. There used to be a pine tree out there, then a new sewer where I think they used a sandier fill dirt on the side with the happier daylilies. Perhaps water, too. Today, I got my soak hose system in. I am pretty jazzed. I think it will prove to be the best system I have ever had. It is amazing how the clay soil is always hard and dry, no matter what.

So, today I had some great blooms. I barely had time to notice them, but they did remind me that the backbreaking work will pay off in blooms (I hope). (In order – Featured photo is Heirloom Heaven; Pictured first below is Passionate Returns, then Western Sandstone, Pink and Cream and Pardon Me.

I also divided daylilies for friends. That was kind of fun, actually. Beats digging holes in adobe clay soil with roots. I could make a good mud house with that stuff, though. I went through 8 big bags of soil this weekend. Crazy!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

August 13, 2017August 13, 2017Leave a comment

Not many daylilies – Just Stella and her offspring, Pink and Cream. But, what did catch my eye this AM was that my Amaryllis bloomed . . . mostly. This guy has been out since it bloomed last Christmas, moved to the garden in May. So, why it decided to bloom, who knows?

Amaryllis and orchids are the winter blooming houseplants that bring to mind my daylilies. Fall brings a longing to start dreaming of their blooms. I wonder if I let this one rest (as usual) for 6 weeks if it will get another bloom? We will see, I guess.

I did a 12-hour shift with my shovel. This was less about “flow” and more about grit. I have 6 more that I want to do tomorrow before I fix-up the soak hose. I have about 10-12 more to do total. Hopefully, this fall.

Digging up the garden made me a bit sad for the daylilies. They are pretty shallow-rooted. Some are too small . . . and that seems to predict lots of roots underneath. Or, visa versa. It takes forever because of the clay, roots, and tight spaces. I decided that the daylilies would either get better, stay the same, or get worse. Worse would be crown rot or more shrinkage. The same is the same. Better would have two possible management plans. The first would be to leave them in the containers and divide often. The second would be to see how they do without containers now that they have deeper basements. Or I could get decorative containers, too. It is like a research study. Not so much random assignment . . . but half the garden gets the intervention. Need to give it time.

Meanwhile, I am beat. Six more tomorrow, then a break from digging for a bit. Other than making a few divisons for friends . . . or starting that. I figure one more full weekend of daylily-ville work. I can’t wait to be a real person, again!

Double Helix

August 12, 2017Leave a comment

Today, I believe, brought my next to last NEW bloom for 2017. Pizza Crust, a late bloomer that I added last year. This year, a two bud wonder. Seriously?

At any rate, I was taken back by how it looked like a twin to Western Sandstone. Like, can you see a difference?

So, curiosity got the best of me. I thought that these two had the same DNA, and while their parents were not listed, they originate from the same hybridizer. Ah, ha . . . I think my eye does not deceive.

Honorable mention goes to Cherokee Star, who put out a near perfect, velvet bloom today.

Today was the beginning . . . of a weekend of daylily digging and putting in pots, again. This time the Southwest Garden. Only the bad side. But, that’s over 40 daylilies and the digging is hard. Tight space, tree roots and clay below the good soil that is now full of tree roots, too. I have 17 done and like 25 left to go. I think I will hit the hay early and get up early to start. I would prefer to be done or mostly done by Sunday. I still have divisions to do for friends. This work actually makes me look forward to snow . . . kind of. I do wonder if I will end up with decorative pots out in that garden, too. I guess this is a pilot. PS – I was digging up the daylilies out there to raise the grade of the garden at exactly this time last year. Sigh. It never ends!

Tomorrow, I think my Ugly Daylily will be in bloom. That is my confused Amaryllis. Life in the garden is always full of surprises.

Upward Spirals

August 11, 2017Leave a comment

The daylily garden is my happy place. Gardening brings a feeling of flow – or a loss of self. And, with daylilies, my optimism, curiosity, creativity, and appreciation of nature strengths kick in, bringing a sense of joy.

And, today must have been extra nice because I managed to take 30 pictures with only 4 cultivators in bloom. Well, and I snuck in a couple shots of my mini sunflowers, Mexican daylilies (shellflowers), and my confused amaryllis (yes, it is about to bloom in my yard).

It was a nice daylily day, though, despite the small number in bloom. First of all, Western Sandstone bloomed for the first time ever in my yard. This one was ordered the first year I was doing roots . . . 2014? And, so it is a gardener’s triumph! A pretty one, too. (pictured below)

So, back to the happy place. There is some good science that says we need 3 positives for every negative (emotion/event) to flourish. Or, somewhere around that number. When we flourish, we broaden and build resources. A month or two ago, I was feeling weighed down in some stuff that was creating an amazing negative spiral out of life. Having the daylilies to focus on is hugely therapeutic. No wonder the longest lived populations all garden!!! No wonder we call it “flourishing.”

Tomorrow, maybe Pizza Crust will bring a smile. Or, my silly amaryllis 🙂

Peace in the Garden

August 10, 2017August 10, 2017Leave a comment

The garden was cool this AM when I got up to look what was in bloom. I needed a fleece to stay comfortable. The scattered blooms took forever to open. Stella has returned, after 2 months of rest. I got Stellas last year so that I would have blooms all summer, and it has been disappointing. I probably need to divide more often.

I like my big box Pink and Cream that has been in bloom much more frequently and is prettier – a nice offspring. It will need to be divided in the spring, for sure!

And, fun with flower photos is turning into dances with shovels. Today, 8 more put in some sort of pot. The Southwest garden is hard work . . . clay and tree roots. And, odd shaped working space for digging holes. So many left to go. I have the worst corner done now. That’s a bit of progress. Every time I think I have foiled my desert garden, I end up re-doing it a couple years later. Because, when you add water and fertilizer, the natives want first dibs!

Somehow, this Gordon Lightfoot song has been going through my head all day:

There’s peace in the garden
There’s peace in the air
Peace in the sound of the river
There’s peace in the meadow
The sun shines like gold
And if she were with me
There’d be peace in my soul

Tomorrow, maybe I’ll talk about the upward spirals from time with my daylilies. I may have my first Western Sandstone tomorrow!

Quiet

August 9, 2017August 9, 2017Leave a comment

Today was quiet in the yard. Four blooms. Cool, rainy. Shifting seasons in the air. It is good to see the new growth on the daylilies I put in pots a couple of weeks ago. There is no doubt they look healthier.

I walked by Fairy Tale Pink and saw her shrinking fans under those invasive blue bells. I stopped to put her in a pot before the dog walk. I’m out of potting soil, again. More, tomorrow.

I sincerely hope I never have to put this many buried pots in any place ever again. The veggie garden was the worse. The Southwestern garden is more of a challenge than the front. At least as far as big roots. The invasive blue bells are in all the roots out front. A woman at the farmer’s market last weekend says they probably have something in their roots that inhibits the growth of other plants. I have to do a procedure where I paint the weeds that appear in the pots with herbicide. After all the pots are in the ground, that is. I hope the bloom next year is worth it! Oh, life on the Colorado Plateau!

Savoring

August 8, 2017Leave a comment

Savoring is a concept that I learned about over a decade ago as a student of positive psychology. Savoring is what I do in the garden every morning – I immerse myself in the color and shape of each bloom. It is a sense of awe, really. And, fall seems to turn up the volume of appreciation for each bloom. July feels almost rushed to get photos of each flower . . . but August slows it down enough to notice each individual bloom.

It is almost funny that today brought two new faces. I only have three unbloomed (for 2017) cultivators left to bloom now. Today brought an old favorite, Heirloom Heaven. A sweet, petite late bloomer.

And, it brought the first Passionate Returns (except the one that I missed Saturday). This is a new plant just a couple weeks ago when I was craving some more late bloomers. I love the color and the ruffles.

Now, it is fall chores. This year, that is a lot due to the decision to put almost everyone in pots of some sort. I’m maybe 2/3 finished. Then, I have several that need to be divided and given to friends/coworkers. I have turned into a serious hobbiest, and the transition is a bit painful at times. I am hopeful that next year will be easier. More time to savor.

You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille!

August 7, 2017Leave a comment

So, a few days without a blog. Getting ready for camping and camping itself. But, Lucille did not let me down! I thought she might wait until Saturday to bloom, and I would miss her “one-but-wonder” bloom this year. But, she showed on Friday. Good old “Fine Time Lucille.”

She was in my first order of daylily roots ever. I fell in love with her name . . . because I didn’t realize all the weirdly named daylilies available. I can hear Kenny Rodgers singing her song right now, can you?

When the drinks finally hit her she said “I’m no quitter
But I finally quit livin’ on dreams
I’m hungry for laughter and here ever after
I’m after whatever the other life brings”

Anyway, camping was awesome. I wanted to get home to continue to dig and replant the Southwest garden strugglers. Got about 5 done – it is SLOW work. I think it is tree roots more than tree leaves. Let’s hope these pots work out there. I also got poor Lucille put in a pot in the main garden so she doesn’t leave me. Oh, I don’t think I will ever be done.

I missed the first Passionate Returns. But, I think she will be back tomorrow.

Grit

August 3, 2017Leave a comment

Today was split shift . . . a day of grit to get more daylilies protected from the soil and roots in my home ground. I gotta tell you, I am ready to be done. And, yet, I have barely started in the Southwest garden. Ugh, that clay soil is definitely part of the problem in the area where the daylilies are not thriving as much. I put my first two full pots out there, buried. The challenge is to make sure the sprinkler hose hits them. Some others are in bottomless pots, and some in the black nursery containers, mostly without bottoms. We will see what works. It is possible that what works is just digging deeper in that clay and replacing it with real soil. But, the pots keep the unwanted roots out. Grit.

So, I had no new blooms. Decided to play with my photo editor. So, here is Indian Sky from today in colored chalk.

Also, I am resharing my Ned Roberts spider collage because I forgot Glen Eyrie. I guess 19 out of 69 could be worse. Almost 30%. But, that clay has to get split up to improve things. Next year, I would like to hit 40. Keep on digging. Grit! Except, this weekend I have a date with my tent.

Left to Right: Top Row – Adios Albuquerque, Aztec Firebird, Black Ice, Chaco Canyon, Chief Four Fingers, Coral Taco. Middle Row: Desert Icicle, Dream Catcher, Dream Keeper, Ghost Ranch, Glen Eyrie, Kokopelli, Papa Longlegs. Bottom Row – Pink Enchilada, Pueblo Dancer, Rasberry Propeller, Skinwalker, Twirling Pinata, Zuni Thunderbird

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure