July is here, and with it comes peak season. I don’t think we are quite to peak yet, but it is approaching quickly. My day starts with photographing each daylily in bloom. Then I feed dogs, irrigate, jog for an hour. When I return, I sit on the front porch and edit the photos. Then, I put them in folders online and post to my personal Facebook page. By then, it’s 2 PM and time for breakfast!
I have had a bunch of new ones since my last post. I will put them in a gallery below. I’ve had 50 new ones since my last post last week!!!
I have had 73 cultivators bloom so far this season out of approximately 190. I lost some last winter. I really need to update my inventory in the software program. Based on those numbers, my bloom rate is about 38% currently. My hope is for 80% this season.
Today, the rain came. Finally! I am hoping for a good monsoon season. We need it. The drought lingers and is growing to the north. So many wildfires out west. I’m surprised that my daylilies are as happy as they are all things considered.
I adore daylily season. But it is always a lot of work that takes a chunk of the day with the photography. However, at this elevation, heat and humidity, the blooms don’t last long. Somedays, they are pretty faded by noon. They look like melted wax to me.
It’s a very different summer with my civic volunteer work. I adore my mornings on the porch editing daylily photos. Finding balance is hard in a “drought of time.”
Catcha next week. I hope your 4th of July garden brings you joy. Sometimes, we are best to focus on the small things right before our eyes and feel gratitude.
It’s gotten hot, and my yard is exploding with many daylilies. Peak season is still a couple of weeks away, and I have about 130 cultivators with scapes! I lost a couple over the winter, so I need to update my total number one of these days.
All American Chief first bloom 6.22Bluegrass Music first bloom 6.23Burgundy Crab first bloom 6.18Candy Cane Dreams first bloom 6.22Comanche Princess first bloom 6.21NOID Dark Mystery first bloom 6.20Happy Returns first bloom 6.21Hopi Jewell first bloom 6.20Jungle Queen first bloom 6.16Land of Enchantment first bloom 6.23Orchid Moonrise first bloom 6.21Prairie Wildfire first bloom 6.19Primal Scream first bloom 6.23NOID Red Riddle first bloom 6.22Return a Smile first bloom 6.18Ruby Spider first bloom 6.18Stephanie Returns first bloom 6.23The Potter’s Touch first bloom 6.23Wild Horses first bloom 6.16Yellow Punch first bloom 6.22
Wow! That’s 20 more cultivators in bloom since my first post of the year! My very large array is getting larger! Today, I celebrate 3 years retired from 40 years of nursing. Quite a retirement anniversary bouquet.
I will say that some of my buds opened funny today – Stephanie Returns and Bluegrass Music both look like they wanted to sleep in. We have had days of fire weather with highs in the 90s, wind speeds 35+ MPH, and humidity under 15% (often single digits). And, we are still in extreme drought here (although no water restrictions yet). I think the buds get dried out! I will also say that the super ruffled blooms just don’t open right in such low humidity. I stay away from super ruffles now.
My community work consumes me. I don’t feel as retired as I did last year. I have always made time for the daylily blog. This year, I feel what I am doing is time-sensitive, and I need to balance my time with that in mind. I am not doing daily Instagram posts this year. I think I will update my latest blooms and gardening tips here about once a week.
Tip for today: Deserts don’t have ruffles! They have ridges.
Which of my blooms from this blog is your favorite?
The weather has turned from spring to summer since my last post a couple weeks ago! It is in the mid to upper 90s this week. The scapes are sprouting fast and furious. I have around 100 cultivators with scapes now. I’m never sure how the daylilies will respond to drought, but I am optimistic that my bloom rate will be decent. My water bill, not so much! (I am city water dependent. It’s not cheap because we don’t get much help from Mother Nature.)
I have two cultivators that just came into bloom today. Jungle Queen and Wild Horses. Sounds like the title of a good sci-fi novel. I asked AI and got the photo below. I kind of like it. Maybe I need to use some fun AI photos of daylily names in the blog this year!
What AI says Jungle Queen and Wild Horses look like!
Here are the actual blooms. Both of these are cultivators that were early to my collection and neither bloomed last year. Good to see them back.
Jungle QueenWild Horses
My Maylily was Saratoga Springtime. I don’t usually have a Maylily, so worth a mention that the blooms started earlier than usual.
My other early bloomers are Dream Keeper and Stella de Oro. Both are still actively blooming. I always say when Saratoga Springtime gets done, that is when the popcorn starts to pop.
Daylily popcorn!
It’s getting too hot to be outside during the day. Maybe I will have more time to post between camping and community involvement! This year brings new civic priorities but I will do my best to keep you all updated on what is going on in my Western Colorado daylily garden!
My pups, Cimarron, Kachina, and Kokopelli, enjoying camping season at Ridgway, CO last week.
And so it begins! The 2025 daylily season began on May 28th with Saratoga Springtime. Always my first!
Saratoga Springtime 6.2.25
First, I am naming this bloom season “A Very Large Array of Daylilies” in honor of our recent road trip through New Mexico and Arizona with a stop at the Very Large Array (of telescopes). I wonder if daylilies can be used to talk to aliens? (The movie Contact was filmed there.)
My dogs, Kokopelli, Kachina, and Cimarron during our visit do the Very Large Array.
The season started a week or two early this year. This is likely because of the drought. It has been a dry winter and spring so far. My lawn is still semi-brown. I got out a couple of weeks ago and started my drippers to add to the sprinkler water.
Life on the edge of an extreme drought – in April!
Drought tends to bring the daylilies out early, but negatively impacts the overall bloom rate. So, we will see what happens. I currently have about two dozen cultivators with scapes.
This year, I had a lot of weeds in my pots. It is so discouraging to see this because I have nearly 200 pots and digging weeds out is costly in time and money because of soil replacement. I have creeping bellflower that is an invasive weed. The roots of the bellflower resemble daylily roots and they grow into the daylily and choke it out. Pulling them just causes roots to break and spreads the plant.
I decided to get more of the coir rounds (small tree rings) because covering bellflower is somewhat effective. I used these rounds several years ago, and they have helped, but they break down over a few years. The downside is my daylilies don’t spread – but they don’t die, either. They are not for everyone, but growing in a desert in pots – especially with invasive bellflower – they work.
Stella de Oro 6.2.25
Other bloomers so far are Stella de Oro and Dream Keeper. Stella is the generic daylily that is so common in flowerbeds. I like her because she is an early and repeat bloomer. Like most early bloomers, she is a yellow trumpet. (So is Saratoga Springtime.)
Dream Keeper 6.3.25.
Dream Keeper did not bloom last year, so I am happy to see lots of buds on several scapes. She is my first Ned Roberts daylily of the year. For those who may be new to my blog, I have a decent collection of of Ned’s spiders. Last year, my blooms were low for the garden where most of these are located.
As far as the 4 new cultivators I added last year, I lost 2 of them. I lost at least two others. I will blame the drought and the fact that I had some minor medical challenges this winter. I wasn’t focused on watering. I need to do inventory and labeling this summer (hopefully).
This post starts the blog. I generally won’t be doing daily posts this year because I am involved in a lot of civic volunteer work this summer. I will plan weekly, except for during peak. IDK if I will have a set day of the week. We will take it one post at a time. Just wanted to get started on the VERY LARGE ARRAY!
Mellow day in the daylily garden after the rain last night. I should be camping but I postponed a day due to more rain predicted tonight. I didn’t have any first blooms for 2024 today.
Catherine Irene in bloom in my garden today.
My scape count is hanging in the 80s, although it is slowly increasing. When I say scape count, I really mean that I am counting plants with scapes, not total scapes in the yard. Some plants have several scapes, but they only count as one plant. My Southwestern Named Daylily Garden is just not moving much. The first year I had a bloom rate of maybe 20% and I am a little nervous that this could be a repeat. Not even Dream Keeper showed up this spring – and she always shows up.
All American Chief in bloom today in my Southwest Roadtrip Garden.
When I have a bad year, I always wonder why. Dry winter (only shoveled once), dry spring, didn’t winter water, left the leaf mulch on the Southwestern Named Garden too long, pot soil needs more fertilizer, etc. I’ll likely be working on those pots this fall – because spring is often too late. In my climate, I find that if I can get them thriving before freeze, they come back pretty strong as long as they get moisture during the winter months.
Inwood in bloom on my patio today.
PS – Southwest Named Daylily Garden is a weird long name. How do you like Southwest Road Trip Garden? Afterall, that is the inspiration for this garden!
Next Up: Colorado Windflowers
I’m headed camping tomorrow, so no blog for a few days. Hopefully, I’ll have some nice photos of our Colorado native wildflowers when I post, again. And, I will have billions and billions of new scapes!
Last week, I got news that my favorite online daylily grower was closing. I absolutely adore Doris at Shady Rest Gardens and I am still adapting to the idea that this summer is her last ever sale. She and her husband are on to the next chapter, as I was a couple years ago. I knew I had to be one of her last customers and order something, despite my pots being pretty full currently. So, last night she posted the sale daylilies for this fall. It was like midnight-thirty and I was shopping for daylilies from my couch.
Comanche Princess in bloom today came from Shady Rest
How did I get started shopping for daylilies online? It was 2015 when I returned to school for my doctorate and somehow daylilies became my healthy escape from studies (I loved my program but needed stress management breaks). I had a few daylilies around the yard for years and found them pretty hardy here, but they weren’t really a hobby until I went back to school at age 60.
Online Doctorates and Daylilies
Before becoming a serious hobbyist, I picked up a daylily or two at the local nursery here and there. I don’t remember what spurred me to try online, but I did. I mean, if you can get a doctorate online then why not a daylily? It was a lesson that bare roots are not the same as blooming plants and I had to be patient. But the varieties were endless and they were less expensive. Because of my love of the Southwest US, I was especially attracted to the ones with names that were also Southwestern. That helped me hone in on my favorite hybridizer – Ned Roberts. He lived in the Southwest and his daylily names showed it.
Ruby Spider is originally from a local nursery and in bloom today.
It was a web search for his daylilies that led me to Doris and Shady Rest. It was like striking gold – she had so many of his daylilies for sale. Way more than I could afford. So, every year, I added a few. Now I have 74 Ned Roberts registered daylilies and a grand total of 198 different daylilies. They aren’t all from Shady Rest, but I loved getting my packages from her and they were a substantial contribution. More than a grower, Doris became my garden mentor. Fortunately, we are still friends on social media, but I will miss those packages.
What is your favorite place to shop for daylilies???
Prairie Wildfire originally came from a local nursery and is in bloom today.
Speaking of my beautiful Ned Robert’s spider daylily collection with Southwestern names – this original wood panel painting of Skinwalker is on sale until my last daylily blooms in 2024. The original wood panel is only $26.25 during the sale. And, I have signed prints of the painting that are only $9 with free shipping. If you miss daylilies in the winter, then now is the time to hang one on the wall! Click here or on the photo below to go to listing.
Skinwalker daylily – original painting or signed print
Dopamine and Daylilies: Do Your Blooms Make You Happier?
Have you ever wondered why we are so drawn to daylilies and gardens in general? This is the time of year when I wake up, remember it’s daylily season, and can’t wait to go out to the garden. Now that the empty pots are filled, it’s even better. A lot of positive emotion – feelings of awe, gratitude, and curiosity abound. Daylilies are like velcro, drawing me out to see what is new.
With daylilies, every day is a new day with different colors and blooms. I think that is why I love daylily season. And, even though blogging about it is work, it does help me savor the joy of the flowers each day. It forces me to take notice of my surroundings.
I didn’t work in the yard today other than to take photos of my bloomers. Did you know I take a photo of each blooming cultivator every day? Then, I file the photos by name and make an Instagram reel for both my pages. Then, I write the blog. So, every day is a daylily day this time of year – unless it is a camping day.
Inwood
I did have two first blooms for 2024: Inwood and Thin Man. Both beautiful blooms, keeping a dozen other blooming cultivators company. Inwood is an older cultivator and reliable bloomer. Thin Man reminds me of a droopy Ruby Spider.
Thin Man
As for scapes, I’m at 90 +/-. I decided today that I have no yardstick (so to speak) to keep track of scapes (or cultivators with scapes) like I do blooms. So, is 90 scapes above, below, or at the mean? Hmmmm. I need a better reference. I do know that several early bloomers don’t have scapes, which makes me nervous because it’s almost July. Does anyone else out there count scapes? Any good systems for tracking these each year?
One of the items I have for sale this summer is this Ruby Spider plant pot. I painted it in several layers so that the paint has a textured feel. The background is a very flat chalk paint on terra cotta, while the flower is bright acrylic. The 6-inch size is perfect for many houseplants. It comes with a saucer, also done in chalk paint. The red and teal are a stunning color combo. And, it is 25% off until my last daylily blooms for 2024. Click this link or the photo below to visit the listing. That’s only about $20 and includes postage!
The day started off warm and sunny, so I decided to slip away and buy the daylily that I passed up the other day (Collier) because one of my pots needed more daylily. Once I got home, I wrestled the crabgrass out of my beloved Canyon Colors daylily pot and was left with 4 scrawny fans. That is why I got Collier. The colors are fairly close, so I hope they each stand out – but I won’t get any blooms from Canyon Colors this year in the pot – fortunately, I have it in another area and it has scapes.
Canyon Colors 2023 bloomCollier (web photo)
Then, I moved stuff around. I rescued Just Plumb Happy from the border garden and put her in a pot. She is also very scrawny and won’t bloom this year. I divided my Kwanso (ditch lily) and put some of it in my little front corner garden. Now, that plant is supposed to be slightly invasive (unlike its hybridized daylily offspring) but the high desert is no tropical ditch. She won’t bloom in the pot. I also put a couple fans in my native plant garden. Another day, another experiment. If she becomes invasive, I’ll regret what I did today.
Prairie Wildfire
Today’s First Blooms of the Season
I had a lot of first blooms of the season today. I’ll post my reel with all the names below. Pandora’s Box was added just a couple days ago. I have almost bought this daylily online so many times! I also want to mention All American Chief as being a favorite spider daylily today.
This is a friendly reminder about my “Until the Last Daylily Blooms” daylily art sale. How about these beautiful fun-shaped flat cards? These make great thank-you notes! Click here or on the photo to go to the listing.
If you need a small planter, I have a bunch! How about this cute red, white, and blue VW-type hippy bus for fun 4th of July decor? Click here or on the picture to go to the listing (email me if you like this specific bus because I am still in process with listing it.)
Ruby Spider, my gateway daylily (I’m a daylily addict), showed up for the first time this season. I adore these big red and yellow blooms. Several years ago, I divided her and I now have her in 3 places. She is the only one that can thrive in this clay soil of the Colorado Plateau with all the competitive plant roots.
Ruby Spider 6.26
Today was also a perfect day for a little experiment with fertilizer. Overcast, drizzly, and pretty cool. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty rainy. By the time I was done, it was sprinkling.
This is the fertilizer I used today – I put 1/3-1/2 cup per plant. I used more for larger pots and plants that had not scaped. Fingers crossed.
Today, I used a perennial fertilizer that may help with inducing some blooms. It is a slow-release type dry fertilizer and I only used it sparingly. I put more closer to the drip system water source. I made this choice because if the soil is depleted, this might be better than a spray.
A small amount of fertilizer in each pot.
I always hold my breath a little when temps are this warm. I have turned daylily plants a stunning yellow by overdoing it with fertilizer, especially with high temps and low water. Sigh – so much for blooms. I am hoping the rain really washes this in tomorrow, but I will likely step up my irrigation for several days.
I also got more daylily photos from last year (and a few from this year) added to my software. If I put a photo of the bloom each year, then I can look back and see if something hasn’t bloomed for a couple of years. That’s a great way to know which pots may need some TLC in the fall or early spring. Or, sometimes, I move it to a different location in the yard to see if that makes a difference.
My daylily software screenshot.
I decided that, for now, I am going to focus on water and fertilizer for the strugglers. I don’t want to mess with roots for fear of stopping any bloom they may have coming – and roots don’t like to be messed with in the heat. I may purchase more coir circles or just buy landscape fabric to put over the top of the grass in the grass/weed-infested pots. Landscape fabric has the advantage of being tucked in a little around the edges, but it is a pain to cut into circles.
I always forget how much time the blog takes. And, I am trying to add backlinks, so that adds more time. Hopefully, I can finish cataloging photos tomorrow – which will help with time. However, wait until peak and keeping up with 60 blooms in one day! Yikes.
Don’t forget to visit my Etsy shop to see all the daylily art that is on sale for the summer. I also wanted to share one of my tile clocks. This one is on sale until July 5th (not part of the daylily art sale) and is called Arizona Road Trip. The vibrant red-orange center reminds me of a daylily. Click on this link or the photo below to visit the listing.
Arizona Road Trip tile clock.
I think I am going to make some pours during the peak by using the primary color of each cultivator in my yard that day. That will be pretty fun! I’ll add those to the sale! Cupboard knobs, clocks, coasters, succulent planters. Can’t wait!
What happened today was a couple first blooms for the season – Comanche Princess and a NOID that I call Dark Mystery. But that’s not all . . .
Today, I wrestled daylily pots! Nothing is as frustrating as grass and creeping bellflower in my pots! Desert daylilies need water – so I have drip systems for 90% of my daylily pots. It is like velcro for grass seeds, grassroots (despite having weed fabric under each pot), and the bellflower. Additionally, the bellflower has tuberous roots that look very much like daylily roots – but lighter in color. Left unattended, they can eventually crowd the daylily out. (Tips for keeping weeds out of pots.)
Unfortunately, chemical choices are limited because the roots of these plants intertwine with the daylily. I have had some luck with the coir rounds – but they wear out in a couple of years and are somewhat expensive in bulk.
I extract the inhabitants of the pot and slowly pull soil and roots away until I expose the daylily roots. Then, I hydro-wash the daylily to get any remaining alien roots off (hopefully) and I repot in new soil. It is a time-consuming process and the pot’s old dirt must be discarded. If you know of an easier way – please post a reply and share your expertise. It is my least favorite part about my daylilies.
Video showing daylily root system.
But, I digress. The day started with me wanting to get the high-bloom fertilizer that I talked about in the blog yesterday. I decided to daylily shop while at the nursery because I had some strugglers that needed to be replaced. I stopped at three nurseries and only one had any daylilies that I don’t already have. So, I got the fertilizer, 2 new daylilies, and some filler plants.
Video on how to fertilize daylilies.
When I got home, I freed the strugglers from their grass and moved them to a different spot to (hopefully) recuperate. I filled the pots with the new daylilies. Now, we wait. I’ll fertilize tomorrow before the storm on Thursday – and I will talk about that in my next post.
Colorado Kid Daylilies 