Wax Daylily Booms of Independence Day

July 5, 20212 Comments

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.

Just 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 daylily

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.

Keep on blooming. Happy 4th!

The Mascot has Arrived!

June 24, 2021Leave a comment

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 plants

6.23 – 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.

Meanwhile, back at the daylily farm . . .

June 22, 20211 Comment

I can’t believe it has been almost 10 days since my last post. That doesn’t mean that daylilies aren’t blooming – although I think peak bloom is going to be a week or so later than usual. Maybe the drought . . . maybe some late cool days in the spring?

All I can say is life is in transition, so blogging had taken a back burner while I continue my job (part-time), clean and organize my house (also put on the back burner too long), and start a business. It is 11 PM (or later) when I finally have time to blog, but my heart and soul need rest.

So, since my last blog on 6.12, there have been a lot of premier blooms! (Premier meaning first bloom of the season) and I have 120 in bloom or with scapes. Here we go:

Rich-colored Canyon Colors made her debut on 6/15. She didn’t bloom last year so I had to dig her roots out of grass that had taken over her pot. She is recovering, but I don’t anticipate more than one scape this year.

Comanche Princess had a premier bloom on 6.18. She looks vigorous in both locations this year.

Echo Canyon made her debut today with three blooms. Our lead photo is her other two blooms.

Funny Valentine had her first blooms open when I returned from camping on Sunday. She has a ton of buds and scapes this year.

Mesa Verde showed up on 6.15. I love her colors, too. Makes me want to take a roadtip . . . actually, I will be at Mesa Verde next month.

Orchid Moonrise had her premier-premier bloom on 6.17. That means, despite having her in my garden for 4ish years, this is the first bloom year. She likes being in the pot away from the tree roots, I think.

Platinum Pink Pallet Whispers premiered today. Who names these daylilies, anyway?

Purple Grasshopper premiered on 6.11 but I can’t remember if I included her in my last blog.

Ruby Spider – One of my first and favorite daylilies. Premier was 6.21.

Wild Horses bloomed for the first time this season on 6.15. Always a stunning bloom.

Yellow Punch, my Lowe’s special a few years ago, opened on 6.15.

My first yellow Stella de Oro opened on 6.18. She is a very different color than my golden Stella and rates her own listing.

That’s about 12 premiers since the last blog. 100++ more to go. What’s next? I guess we will see tomorrow. I would like to get back to blogging regularly, at least on Sunday. I feel like daylily season will come and go so quickly this year. The plants (mostly) appreciate all the work I did potting them and/or refurbishing the soil. A few are too crowded now and seem hesitant to send out a scape. Fortunately, I can divide and sell them this fall.

Speaking of which – please drop by my Art and Nature from the Hartt website to see what I plan to carry in my Etsy store. I have lots of begonias and coleus cooking now . . . and some succulents. I can’t wait to start making daylily art, again, too. I will clean my house first, though. Come visit us at this link – http://www.artandnaturefromthehartt.com

TTFN!

True Colors Shining Through

June 11, 2021Leave a comment

Too much going on in life to focus on anything too long. I get the watering done daily, though. Blogging comes second, but I made time today because . . . (drum roll) – I have my first Ned Roberts Spiders in bloom today. The yellow trumpets have company – true colors shining through! Dream Keeper is a reliable early bloomer. I am a little surprised that Purple Grasshopper is one of the first in the Southwest Garden. It didn’t bloom at all last summer but seems to have profited from being put in a put with new soil and no tree roots.

BTW – My plants are noticeably bigger this year after they were moved last year. I am hoping that results in more blooms this year. Here are the blooms of the day:

Premiers for Today

Former Premiers (this year):

Saratoga Springtime – Premier Bloom 6.3.11 (this photo was taken 2 days ago)

Follow our NEW! Art and Nature from the Hartt blog page, where I will be selling plants and nature/Southwest artwork. There will be daylilies and daylily art for sale!

Begonias: A Shift to Livingroom Gardening

September 5, 2020September 5, 2020Leave a comment

My last Purple Corn Dancer came and went on 9.1. And, so drought and high temps end the season a few weeks early. I’m working away at my potting project with the daylilies. Every other weekend, I get about 20 done. I have a couple more weekends of labor ahead.

So, with freeze a month or so away, my mind turns to my houseplants. My orchids have thinned through neglect and sales.

I’m sticking primarily to succulents, bromeliads, air plants, and begonias. Begonias weren’t originally in the plans, but I have a couple of Rexes that have been favorites for years. They really help me calm my soul.

So, I’m adding more and I thought I would share the pretty leaves here. I’m hoping that I get better at growing these because they are stunning color in my livingroom.

Perhaps it’s the end of daylily season that leads me to impulse buy begonias on Etsy this year. But, I think it is actually an antidote to work stress this year.

rhizomatousRizomous begonia – Autumn’s Best

I’ve never acquired begonias through the mail. Thanks to mail order daylilies, I now realize my options for many plants are beyond the available of local nurseries.

The dry air is hard on the Rexes, but the small ones are now pots inside large glass vases on damp lava rock. I only lost one before I figured out the modified terrarium system. I hope I can grow and love these for years.

I have a few more in transit. Can’t wait. And, then I must wait because it will be too cold to ship. When spring comes, I will focus on my yard. It’s usually September that is my month for houseplant sprees.

Jazzed!

August 29, 2020Leave a comment

Wow! I haven’t blogged since school started nearly 2 weeks ago? I’m not really surprised. It’s overwhelming to be short of faculty and it never seems to stop. On top of that, there was my daylily repotting project 2 weekends ago (20 of 70 done) and camping last weekend. Twenty more this weekend.

I have four buds left – all Purple Corn Dancer. It is really winding down. With the drought – I hold little hope of rebloom, even from the yellow trumpets. So, why and I jazzed? Because there is LOTS of new growth in several of the daylilies I repotted two weeks ago.

The season shifts. Now, my daylilies are plants to be nurtured. This is a great time to put out a little growth because first freeze is still 5 weeks or so away and the days will be warm enough until mid to late October for the cultivators to grow into the next season. Then, will come the snow . . and mulching . . . and freezing temps. I won’t pay much attention to the daylilies – maybe genealogy and movies to pass the dreary hours of being reliant on my furnace for comfort. A few pots will move to the back porch for the winter- my barometer on spring is watching the porch lilies. Then, finally, the porch lilies have enough growth to move outside in late February and little by little the green appears. Then, it is time to sit on the porch, again – and hope for scapes to show soon. After that, three months of bloom season and heat. And, after that, the cycle begins anew. Let’s hope for a little rain and moisture in all of that.

Butterflies

August 17, 2020Leave a comment

Today brought more buried garden work. It was in the 90’s and I did have to dig in the mucky, clay-silt earth a bit. My thyroid isn’t tolerating the heat so well . . . I was drenched.

The next batch of pots won’t be here until the 3rd. I should only need 1 more batch after that. It seems slow, the delivery. It’s weird that Target is the only one even close to the prices I paid in 2017. Most are 3-5 $ more. I use to buy 10 at a time at bulk discount but that’s a pipe dream now. I was going to do this in 2018 . . . No point regretting it now.

Purple Corn Dancer the sole bloom on 8.16.20

IDK about you, but I get excited in early spring when the daylilies leaves seem to grow right before your eyes. I get butterflies when I see the first scape. Then, the blooms come. I wish I felt a bit more of that excitement about school starting tomorrow. I just feel tired already. That’s kind of sad.

From Desert to Daylilies

August 16, 20201 Comment

Today was a desert drought day. Smoke from nearby wildfires clouded the air. Ninty degrees with single digit humidity. The desert – my cacti and succulents are loving it.

Today, I began the repotting project in the Southwest Garden. It wasn’t too bad – I got 15 done and have 5 more pots for tomorrow. I have lots more pots to order, but even $6 pots add up when you have several dozen daylilies.

I was thankful these were in cheep pots already because my soil is murder to dig in. There is an area in the garden that needs to have the holes dug but I aint doing that in 90 degree heat. Speaking of soil – the cheep pots did well at holding the new soil in but they all had tree roots growing into them. Our soil is mostly clay and silt (90+%) and has a very alkaline pH of 7-7.8. Daylilies like slightly acidic soil that has a pH of 6-6.5. They like slightly moist soil with some organic matter. Our clay soil is hard and dry with poor water retention. I have put several inches of topsoil in that garden circa 4 years ago and you would never know it – the clay wins.

At any rate – I have 3 bloomers left in that garden – Purple Corn Dancer (will be hanging around the longest), Purple Thunderbird, and Navajo curls. I am working around them so I don’t accidentally break a scape. It is amazing how the foliage looks so dry and the plants are shrinking back. I am not watering everyday due to work. Ugh – Monday is a 12 hour day. I miss working from home where I can run out and turn hoses on. The drought doesn’t care.

I had a dream about my daylilies last night. I sold my house and after I closed I realized I left the daylilies. The new owner said I could go back and get them. But, I was like on a country road looking everywhere for them. I will be glad when they are potted because they are on the easement. I think having the sewer guys almost having to dig up my neighbor’s easement to get to my sewer woke me up. The pots can be moved.

Dwindle

August 15, 2020Leave a comment

Oh, how the mornings have changed from a month ago. I was fresh off vacation and in the midst of the daylily peak. Now, my mornings bring a handful of color and an early drive to work. And, work is no vaca in the middle east a pandemic.

It’s hot, though. And, really dry with single digit humidity. Wind fires blaze. Record breaking temps are common. Too hot and dry for reblooming. Even yellow Punch isn’t trying for a comeback.

I got the first of the pots for you buried garden. Soil tomorrow. It’s kind of hot so I’ll start with just moving those already in pots to the better pots. I can’t dig tree into clay in this heat with a Graves flair.

Anyway, enjoy my dwindling handful of color.

One and Only

August 14, 2020Leave a comment

My goodness, I can’t believe it’s been 5 days since I posted! Fortunately, I’ve had time to take photos. But, on top of school starting amidst a pandemic, I’m also having a Grave’s flair.

Golden Eclipse – the sole bloomer 8.13.20

I have had nice bloomers, several with finale blooms this week. It hot, dry, and wildfires rage nearby. I don’t anticipate reblooms outside of maybe my yellow trumpets. I’ll start my improved buried pot project this weekend.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Category: daylily container garden