Engagement

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Smiles are a sign of human engagement.  And, for now, my smiles are daylilies.  I miss my mornings in the garden and am thankful for my photos.

Last night, I praised my Ruby Spider for having the most days of blooms.  Tonight, I praise Return A Smile for having the longest run of blooms.  She was the first one, and she was blooming on Monday when I left.  She has scapes that survived that late snow storm. She was purchased at the same time as Ruby Spider . . . maybe 8 years ago.  They live in the same planter – which seems too small but they thrive.  Return a Smile, Like Ruby, has been divided and lives in 2 locations in my yard.

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It gives me some faith to see them flourish.  I figured it out, and if all those with scapes bloom, I’ll be at 42% bloom this year.  I hope a few more produce.  I have to dig some more up and put them in pots.  I may bury the pots – but they need better soil and less competition to stand a chance of blooming.  I wonder if I’ll need to do that in the Southwestern Garden?  For this year, I think I’ll try breaking through the clay a little deeper and see what next year brings.

Farming is hard work, yet it brings a sense of engagement and purpose to life.  All of the world’s longest living people garden.  I can understand why.

21 Days!

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Sitting in a hotel room some 300+ miles from my blooms.  I wonder what bloomed today? Best Seller was so close – I’ve waited 3 years!  It was one of the first roots that I ordered.  I hope is saves some buds.

So, I decided to make a chart showing which day each flower has bloomed.  So far, I have had a 27% bloom.  I hope I can get to 50.  I don’t ever expect to hit 100.  But, I do want to see it increase every year.  I move them, I water more, I add fertilizer, I trim trees (pending).  It is quite a learning curve . . .

In looking at the number of days each cultivator has bloomed, Ruby Spider definitely wins the prize of the most days in bloom.  It helps that I have 3 of her in different places in the yard.  She is one of the oldest ones, too.  She is the icon of my daylilies.  Bloom on, Ruby!

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Aimless

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I aimlessly wondered the yard today. I didn’t realize how aimless it was until I downloaded the photos. I was pinging all over the yard in no order. Perhaps that’s how life feels right now. Not sure where to head next.

No new blooms today, but it was my first decent Zuni Thunderbird. Every year I say I’ll bug spray it early. Every year, the first half dozen blooms are wrecked. Given I’m gone for a few days, this may be the only decent photo that I get. I hope not, it’s my favorite.

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I’ll be missing some new ones the next few days. I hope they save some buds for me. Please!

 

 

Fruits and Veggies: Health Blooms Day!

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I went on a short overnight camping trip last night.  It was mid-afternoon before I pulled in the driveway.  I enjoyed the night in nature, but was curious to see what was in bloom in the yard.

Rasberry Propeller is one of my Ned Roberts daylilies.  No, not a Southwestern name.  A hybridizer was out of what I wanted, so it was a replacement.  It is in a pot in the front yard.  I think it will go in the ground next year.  Or, a bigger pot.  I think I’ll only get two blooms.  Despite the heat and high UV, it is still a cool bloom.

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The second bloom that is new for the year is Blue Beat.  This is a favorite near blue – up there with The Colorado Kid and Blue Grass Music.  Ths sun scorch turns it to purple – so hoping for an early morning picture tomorrow.  Mildred Mitchell did not bloom this year – I think she needs to be divided.  I can’t wait to get an early morning shot.

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Tomorrow will be my last day in the garden for a few days.  This is like leaving a good movie in the middle to go to the restroom and wondering what you missed.  I am hoping to see a couple new ones tomorrow . . . Maybe Best Seller.  There is also a tiger named one that is close.  Some are late this year, too dry, I think.  Rain has just not happened this summer.  I need to get soak hoses for those gardens, too.

I bought pots this weekend, as my next project is to dig up the daylilies in the front garden that haven’t bloomed and do partial buried pots for them.  Too much competition, so the pots give them their own space.  Always something .  .  . Daylily therapy!  Thank goodness for daylilies and camping trips right now.

 

Roadtrip!

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Today’s new blooms remind me of my annual road trip to the southwest.  First, an old friend that is ailing a little this year, Route 66.  I am hoping my driveway drip system kicks this one back in because I think I will only get 2 blooms this year, and this one is very undersized.

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The second one is absolutely gorgeous: Dream Catcher.  It bloomed last year, but this year the blooms seem bigger and more iridescent.  It totally looks like the dream catchers that the Navajo sell at the roadside stands along the highway.   And, if this is in the middle of my Southwest Garden, then there is hope for more blooms next year.  In fact, Adios Albuquerque is sending up a scape!!!

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My garden has been my road trip this week.  I am so grateful for a hobby with so much positive emotion.  Gardens are a great place to heal and escape the obsessions that create imbalance all around me now.  I am obsessed with my blooms.

I had 23 in bloom today.  So, the peak is close.   I am a little bummed to have to leave for a business trip in the middle of it.  I hope I don’t miss too much.  I wish I could have a webcam on each of my daylilies.

Tomorrow – pretty sure there will be new faces.  Who knows?  That is the joy of daylily season.

Tiny Dancer

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“Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today” Elton John

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The new face today is a bloom that was labeled Pueblo Dancer, another Ned Roberts spider.  My 6th “Ned” this year in that garden.  Except, I don’t think it is Pueblo Dancer.  It’s pretty small for 40-inch scapes (try 12), and it is not the right colors.  Oh boy, the only one it looks like is Chokecherry Mountian . . . but that is in a different part of the garden. I guess I will post it to the Daylily Society and see what they think.

For tomorrow, there will be new ones.  I think Route 66.   I saw some others that were close but I don’t remember which now.  It has been a day of pushing hard at work when I could use some healing.  So, like the daylilies, it is time to let go and bloom again, tomorrow.

Double-Take

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The Fourth of July came and went with no blog post, so I have three new blooms to share tonight.  But, before I do, I want to share this fused Ruby Spider bloom from the 4th of July.  Talk about fireworks.  Mother nature gave this bloom double DNA!  Some experts say that weather is a factor.  It got over 100 likes on the Daylily Society page!

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As for new blooms, I will start with my favorite first – its name is Indian Giver.  This was a bonus plant that I put in the Southwest garden last spring.  I don’t have many buds this year, but I am hoping for more fans and more productive scapes next year.  I love the white border!

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Another new addition is Wineberry Candy – added to one of my pots that just got a drip system.  The two daylilies in the pot from previous are struggling, but hopefully will come back with water.  I didn’t have any of the many “candy” named ones, so I guess I do now.

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Prelude to Love showed up today for the first time this year.  It is a favorite.  It was this afternoon that I noticed my early AM shot was blurred, so this one is what it looks like with 6 hours of high UV in nearly 100-degree heat and probably 10% humidity.  Not too bad.

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It’s funny how being a daylily farmer brings you closer to the earth.  Some pots that were quiet last year are thriving this year, and visa versa.  I am disappointed in the Southwest garden bloom rate.  I did discover another cultivator with a scape today.  Last year, 10 bloomed.  This year, it is 13 so far have blooms or scapes  But, it is somewhat different ones that bloomed this year.  Of the 5 that did not repeat a bloom this year, I still have some hope for Skinwalker because it is a late bloomer.  But, what causes the shift?  I would guess it is that they were newly planted from the South last spring and still are adapting.  It takes time for them to get established and I can’t claim that the high desert of the Colorado Plateau is natural for them.  And, the trees probably need to be trimmed, but the fact that the blooms are scattered throughout the garden says that the sun issue is not profound.

For tomorrow . . . I don’t know about new blooms.  I have lots of scapes in the front garden so we will see what Mother Nature brings.  Work brings a 10 hour computer day!

Glen Eyrie: Colorado Heritage in Bloom!

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So, Glen Eyrie bloomed today for the first time.  I added this guy last fall.  Anyone who knows Colorado can guess that he was picked partially for his name.  The Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Spings is a famous tourist attraction within the state.  So, this guy was hybridized close to home.

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I painted a tile of him last winter from a photo on the web.  What do you think?

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As for tomorrow – I’m not sure how much new stuff there will be.  Sort of waiting for a second wave to hit.  I think my front garden needed more water earlier, but I still have lots of scapes.  Maybe Wineberry Candy?  Sounds good to me.

PS – I tried the Tobasco sauce for earwigs.  The blooms wilted fast.  Maybe I’ll just add Tobasco sauce to my soap weed spray???  Just a little.

Bluegrass Blues

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Today, at long last, I get to tell the story of Bluegrass Music because she bloomed!  When I first started getting savvy about buying bare root daylilies, I learned that there were no true blue ones.  This made me want blue ones!!!  We always want what we can’t have.  So, I found this one on a website and tried to order . . . it was a weird process, but I finally called them.  They had one small fan of this one left, but it would be $50.  Well, I had to have my addiction fix, so I bought the one small fan as the first of a handful of near blue daylilies.  PS – I have not ordered from that place since – you can get these on the Lily Auction for $25 for 2 fans.

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Other newcomers – This one is Heron’s Cove.  It has a story of being a wanna be near blue.  I lost a near blue and this one was an economical one.  BTW a much more ethical grower told me to expect it not to look blue except in exceptional circumstances.  I want to get out to see it before the sun hits it next time.

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Prairie Blue Eyes (I am pretty sure) showed up in my yard today . . . in an unexpected place.  It is in one of my driveway pots, but it did not put up scapes this year.  Interestingly, I had some daylilies in my back garden, but it was too shady and the daylilies there were slowly dying back.  So, two years ago, I fixed it so they had more sun, water and better soil.  This one, I moved to the front garden last year not having a clue what it was.  (I did not always know names or label them).  So, it was stunning to see this little one open in the front garden.  Makes me think I need to move the others to a sunnier spot.

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Zuni Thunderbird is one of my favorites, but the thrips like it and the first blooms are always a little beat up.  Need to spray it today.  Think I will take a nap first, though.

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Iridescent

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This weekend is my home weekend . . . so working on yard stuff today.  Not much new in bloom,  despite having 16 in bloom.  The half-bloomed bud fell off of Bluegrass Music 😦  But, South Seas did have a first bloom today.  I love the color combo.  It’s kind of iridescent.

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The big project of the weekend was irrigation, again.  I dug the big rain barrel that my renter had (yes, 11 years ago) and hooked it up to a solar drip system.  I know those solar drip systems get lousy ratings.  They are somewhat disposable every year.   They are a pain to get running but once they are pumping, they work pretty well for a decent amount of time.

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At first the system was just for the existing pots – Prairie Blue Eyes and Route 66.  But the barrel is kind of ugly, so I decided to put in some annuals.  I also rescued Hesperus, Saratoga Springtime, and Orange Flurry from where they were.  Too much shade, not enough water.  Curious to see if I can get blooms next year.   (If I do, I may go for a pretty barrel!)

I also put in a drip line (this one goes to the hose) for my daylilies in the edge garden.   It is going to be much easier to turn that drip hose when I do the other watering than to carry the can.  Both of the new areas are places I have thought of expanding my daylily garden to when I run out of room other places.  So, off we go with a pilot study!

For tomorrow – Maybe Bluegrass Music or Zuni Thunderbird.  Who knows what else?