Finale Ally

July 29, 2018Leave a comment

It is a busy life when I try to add anything. And, this weekend brought an intense application and the rodeo. I did it, got both checked off the agenda. I have been tired all day, through – despite sleeping until 10AM. So, without further ado, here are the Friday and Saturday finales (see date for the finale date). Our cultivators in bloom are dwindling quickly. Still, we had over 20 in bloom today.

Finales:

Purple de Oro 7.27

Aztec Firebird 7.27

Purple Moonrise 7.27

Lime Frost 7.28

Nosferatu 7.28

Twirling Pinata 7.28

My little friends say goodbye. I think about fall work to enhance bloom, again. I have a few to put in pots or divide. My energy is not anything like last summer, where every second of August was spent putting daylilies in buried pots. Actually, glad I did it last year. Especially with the drought. Where on earth did I get that energy?

Other cultivators the past 2 days include: Cherokee Star, Purple Corn Dancer, Purple Thunderbird, Dream Catcher, Mount Echo Sunrise, Chorus Line, Mini Pearl, Hesperus, Ruby Stella, Indian Sky, Orange Vols, Prairie Blue Eyes, Raspberry Propeller, Nearly Wild, El Desperado, Pizza Crust, Marque Moon, South Seas, Baja, Comanche Princess, Pink and Cream, Anasazi, Lady Fingers, Royal Palace Prince, Navajo Curls, Heron’s Cove, Tiger Kitten, Classy Lady, Prelude to Love.

Attachment, Separation, and Loss

July 27, 2018July 27, 20181 Comment

Today, it is just finales. Worked today . . . big reorg at work. Like starting over. I imagine a lot of chaos before it settles into anything with a rhythm, again. I’ll lose most the students I have worked with for two years. Finales remind me of something one of my instructors in midwifery school taught me once – Life is like a placenta: It is all about attachment, separation, and loss. I am attached to my blooms . . . and then they go away. Sometimes they are back in a year, and sometimes they don’t bloom every year. Life is unpredictable. But, there is a cycle to it. Can you believe that my poinsettias and amaryllis come in next month to start their rest cycle? Heavens, time to gear up my bloom closet for the <12 hours of light per day for the poinsettias soon. They have loved summer in the yard. Hope for a colorful Christmas while the daylilies sleep.

Finales:

Adios Albuquerque 7.26

Cheddar Cheese 7.26

Mildred Mitchell 7.26

Bold Tiger 7.26

Christmas in July

July 26, 2018Leave a comment

Today was Christmas in July and we had 25 cultivators to match that date! We had a weird work meeting dress-up for the occasion or I doubt I would have noticed.

Anyway – We had a new cultivator in the yard today. I think this is it for a while and only few more (well, right now only 1 other is in scape) for 2018. It is odd when ones that bloomed last year are not scaping this year . . . one wonders what motivates a flower to bloom. Probably not a drought.

So, Apache Uprising bloomed. She is in the little corner garden in front and I nearly missed her. She has bloomed for the last 3 summers – I like her deep red color.

Apache Uprising 7.25

Because it is Christmas in July, I will mention Lime Frost bloomed today. This adds some green to our red and she has a Christmastime name:

Lime Frost 7.25

Finales:

Prelude to Love 7.25

Bela Lugosi 7.25

Sort of Christmas colors. I only remember one celebration of Christmas in July . . . and today that makes my heart heavy. I am especially glad I have flowers to keep me company today.

I have been forgetting other blooms – so here we go: Dream Catcher, Mount Echo Sunrise, Navajo Curls, Purple Corn Dancer, Cherokee Star, Mount Echo Sunrise, Classy Lady, Rosie’s Red, Tiger Kitten, Nearly Wild, Comanche Princess, Marque Moon, South Seas, Baja, Mini Pearl, Lady Fingers, Hesperus, Fox Ears, Ruby Stella, Blue Beat, El Desperado, Heron’s Cove, Purple de Oro.

Decrescendo!

July 24, 2018Leave a comment

It was a busy day for a Monday after the peak. 35 cultivators blooming today . . . that is a lot. Last year, I had 18 in bloom this day. In 2015, the number was 8. Maybe I was camping in 2016. Anyway, today we hit a total of 123 cultivators for the year – about 70% bloom rate. I only have a couple with scapes that have not bloomed . . . I don’t know if we will get to 75%. But was are sure ahead of 48% last year.

So – for today – two new babies. A first-ever bloom is Navajo Curls. I got her a couple years ago and she didn’t come back last spring. She was replaced in the fall. Worth it! She is another Ned Roberts spider – can you tell?

Navajo Curls 7.23

And, my old favorite brilliant orange daylily – Orange Vols – opened today. I put her in 6 years ago when I xeriscaped parts of my yard. I love to paint her!

Orange Vols 7.23

Encores – Our first rebloom of the season! Indian Love Call came back for seconds.

Indian Love Call 7.23

Finales – Our last blooms today are below (unless they do encores). When it is the last Ruby Spider, you know the peak is waning. I’m kinda ready for those 10 or fewer blooms a day, honestly!

Ruby Spider 7.23

Stephanie Returns 7.23

Longlesson Show-off 7.23

Navajo Rodeo 7.23

Desperado

July 23, 2018July 23, 20181 Comment

It is roll-call day! But, first, a dedication. It is camping weekend and I was listening to a song “Desperado” on my ipod. I have always identified with the song. So, I will put El Desperado as our lead photo today.

Desperado – The Eagles

Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
You been out ridin’ fences for so long now
Oh, you’re a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin’ you
Can hurt you somehow

Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She’ll beat you if she’s able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get

Desperado, oh, you ain’t gettin’ no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they’re drivin’ you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that’s just some people talkin’
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Don’t your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine
It’s hard to tell the night time from the day
You’re losin’ all your highs and lows
Ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you (let somebody love you)
You better let somebody love you before it’s too late

OK – so new to the garden for the first time in 2018 today is Pizza Crust. I get a little hungry looking at her because I am stuck with low cholesterol pizza that doesn’t have much crust.

Pizza Crust 7.22

Finales:

Thin Man 7.22

Route 66 7.18

Fairytale Pink 7.22

Nurse’s Stethoscope 7.18

Here goes Roll-Call for the week of 7/16-7/22:

Adios Albuquerque 7.19

Anasazi 7.17

Aztec Firebird 7.17

Baja 7.18

Bela Lugosi 7.19

Black-Eyed Susan 7.16

Blue Beat 7.20

Bluegrass Music 7.16

Bold Tiger 7.17

Canyon Colors 7.15

Catherine Irene 7.16

Cheddar Cheese 7.22

Cherokee Star 7.17

Chorus Line 7.18

Classy Lady 7.18

Comanche Princess 7.17

Dream Catcher 7.18

El Desperado 7.19

Fox Ears 7.19

Happy Hopi 7.17

Heavenly Curls 7.17

Heron’s Cove 7.17

Hesperus 7.17

Indian Sky 7.16

Isaac 7.16

Jungle Queen 7.16

Just Plum Happy 7.17

Lacy Doily 7.20

Lady Fingers 7.18

Lime Frost 7.15

Longlesson Showoff 7.18

Lullabye Baby 7.22

Mama Cuna 7.17

Marque Moon 7.20

Mellon Balls 7.17

Mildred Mitchell 7.18

Mini Pearl 7.19

Mount Echo Sunrise 7.16

Navajo Rodeo 7.16

Nearly Wild 7.18

Nosferatu 7.18

Papa Longlegs 7.17

Passionate Returns 7.20

Pick of the Litter 7.17

Pink and Cream 7.18

Prairie Blue Eyes 7.17

Prairie Wildfire 7.16

Prelude to Love 7.18

Purple Corn Dancer 7.20

Purple de Oro 7.17

Purple Grasshopper 7.17

Purple Moonrise 7.17

Purple Thunderbird 7.18

Raspberry Propeller 7.20

Red Hot Returns 7.17

Red Riddle 7.18

Return a Smile 7.16

Rosie’s Red 7.20

Route 66 7.18

Royal Palace Prince 7.20

Ruby Spider 7.17

Ruby Stella 7.22

Skinwalker 7.19

Soco Gap 7.16

South Seas 7.22

Stephanie Returns 7.17

Strutter’s Ball 7.18

Taco Twister 7.19

Colorado Kid 7.22

Tiger Kitten 7.20

Treasure of the Southwest 7.20

Twirling Pinata 7.20

Wineberry Candy 7.16

Yellow Punch 7.22

Quiet Friday

July 20, 2018July 20, 2018Leave a comment

Today is camping day/weekend. The daylily patch is having her quietest day all month. Its actually cool weather with clouds. Maybe rain later. Probably whilst I pitch the tent. It feels good to have things slow down a bit.

So, new bloom today was Purple Corn Dancer. This name and Iktomi both intrigued me early in my daylily search. After Kokopelli, Dream Catcher, and Zuni Thunderbird . . . These were next. This is the Corn Dancer’s first ever bloom. It’s a glorious day. I am grateful.

Finales (sadly):

Stephanie Returns 7.20

Skinwalker 7.20

Lacy Doily – 7.20

Canyon Colors 7.20

The Bud Stands for All Things

July 20, 2018July 20, 2018Leave a comment

Something different tonight before our normal rounds – I am starting off with a poem about flowers that was sent out by the Father of Positive Psychology to a listserve I am on earlier this week. I love the flower reference and the need to reteach us of our inner loveliness so we bloom, again. Boy, I identify with that this year.

Saint Francis and the Sow

By Galway Kinnell

The bud stands for all things,

even for those things that don’t flower,

for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;

though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness,

to put a hand on its brow of the flower

and retell it in words and in touch it is lovely

until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;

as Saint Francis put his hand on the creased forehead

of the sow, and told her in words and in touch

blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow

began remembering all down her thick length,

from the earthen snout all the way

through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,

from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine

down through the great broken heart

to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering

from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath them:

the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Ok – Here we go – new blooms. I am in love with Purple Thunderbird. Another Ned Roberts spider that is in bloom for the first time in my yard. I didn’t realize it until I took off photos tonight . . . but I went back for photos like 5 different times.

PurpleThunderbird7.19.11

Other newbies that opened for the first time this year – Tiger Kitten. She is a petite little tiger.

TigerKitten7.19.3.jpg

And, Royal Palace Prince – whose first bloom was messed up by bugs a little. Always feel sorry for the ones whose first buds make them look a little goofy.

RoyalPalacePrince7.19.2.jpg

We are fast running out of scapes from unbloomed daylilies for 2018. Still hoping for a few late scapes and rebloomers. I had 40 in bloom today. We are at 119 total cultivators for 2018 out of 175 or so. I know of 4 or 5 that have not yet bloomed. So, let’s call it 123. We will hit 70% if all those bloom. I am happy with that, given we only got 48% or something last year. Big improvement for a drought year.

Finales:

Return a Smile 7.19

Red Hot Returns 7.19

And, yesterday (forgotten):

Strutter’s Ball 7.18

A Wednesday in Your Garden

July 19, 2018Leave a comment

Wednesday in your garden – it is a song by the Guess Who. It is kind of a sad song about getting shot down by someone . . . and the person still wants to spend Wednesday in the garden of the shooter. Funny how we cling to things that hurt us sometimes.

So, two awesome new blooms in the garden this Wednesday. Twirling Pinata is a cool Ned Roberts spider. She bloomed last year, but struggled after I put her in the pot . . . well, she was already sick. She did not show up this spring, so I replaced her. It is cool when a bare rook blooms the first year.

She is a sib (same pod) of Raspberry Propeller . . . in bloom today. So, here they are side-by-side. (Pinata – L, Propeller – R)

Nearly Wild 7.18

Nearly Wild also gave a first bloom today. She looks like the original daylily – called Fulva. Fulva is an invasive ditch lily. The hybrids are not invasive. This one clearly bears some genetic resemblance to her ancestor.

Finales today:

Heavenly Curls 7.18

Purple Grasshopper 7.18

And, I forgot to include Mama Cuna yesterday:

Mama Cuna 7.17

That is it, folks. The word is my exhaustion is the real deal . . . I need to be doing a lot of stuff to fight back and get healthy, again. After more work-ups to narrow it down so it can get treated. It’s a permanent deal, most likely. I am glad for my daylilies because they give my life some focus at a time when everything seems so foggy. At the same time, they do take a bite of time every day during peak.

Other blooms today: Comanche Princess, Treasure of the Southwest, Dream Catcher, Bluegrass Music, Mildred Mitchell, Blue Beat, Red Riddle, Nosferatu, Prairie Blue Eyes, Canyon Colors, Heron’s Cove, El Desperado, Purple de Oro, Lime Frost, Marque Moon, South Seas, Longlesson Show-off, Lullabye Baby, Lady Fingers, Mini Pearl, Yellow Punch, Pink and Cream, Prelude to Love, Pick of the Litter, Bela Lugosi, Baja, Chorus Line, Lacy Doily, Return a Smile, Ruby Spider, Bold Tiger, Black-Eyed Susan, Indian Sky, Anasazi, Hesperus, Route 66, Ruby Stella and Strutter’s Ball. Time for bed. Past time for bed.

Tuesday Afternoon is Neverending!

July 18, 2018July 18, 2018Leave a comment

Today, Tuesday, brought a couple brand new blooms. Very different daylily characteristics in these two – but some color similarities. First, another Robert’s spider – Purple Moonrise. She is big and I don’t have a ton of buds on her. Looks like some minor insect damage – time to spray, again. She is big – reminds me of Talon. I can’t find the parentage.

Rosie’s Red was a bonus a year or two ago. I like her more than a lot of my bonus blooms. She reminds me of Indian Love Call a little.

Finales from today:

Prairie Wildfire

Just Plum Happy

Wineberry Candy

And, Happy Hopi, this time for sure.

Oh, and the photo at the very top is Heron’s Cove in a splendid massive bloom today.

Alright – other bloomers today (besides those mentioned above: Aztec Firebird, Purple Grasshopper, Dream Catcher, Comanche Princess, Mama Cuna, Comanche Princess, Nosferatu, Cheddar Cheese, El Desperado. Purple de Oro, Longlesson Showoff, Mildred Mitchell, Passionate Returns, Marque Moon, Ruby Spider, Lullabye Baby, Mellon Balls, Stephanie Returns, Mini Pearl, Prelude to Love, Raspberry Propeller, Pick of the Litter, Bella Lugosi, Black Eyed Susan, Anasazi, Red Hot Returns, Prairie Blue Eyes, Lady Fingers, Indian Sky, Hesperus, Route 66, Strutter’s Ball, Nurse’s Stethoscope, Pink and Cream, Heavenly Curls, Bold Tiger.

The Mamas and the Papas

July 17, 2018July 17, 2018Leave a comment

This morning, I got that song from the Mamas and Papas “Monday, Monday” stuck in my head. Maybe it is because I had Mama Cuna and Papa Longlegs blooming next to each other. I had 51 today! Monday mornin’ you gave me no warnin’ of what was to be . . .

So, for fun, here are the Mamas (Mama Cuna – L) and the Papas (Papa Long Legs – R):

Mama Cuna

Papa Long Legs

So, we had 2 new faces today. The first one is such a pretty flower. Up until this year, when I started running out of blooms, I would go look for later bloomers. Anyway, I almost decided to not bring one home from the nursery . . . until I saw the name. Seriously, I squeezed her into one of the last Southwest Garden spaces. She looks like velvet to me.

Cherokee Star 7.16

The second new face is Bold Tiger. Well, I think that is her name. I got her on discount because they lost the tags and didn’t know what she was. I did a search and she looks most like Bold Tiger. So, we will go with that. I believe that makes 112 so far this year. We are at 64% bloom rate. Can we get to 75%?

Bold Tiger 7.16

Finales (last blooms unless they send reblooms) today:

Isaac 7.16

Catherine Irene 7.16

Taco Twister 7.16

Soco Gap

The Colorado Kid 7.16

Oh, and Papa Long Legs – but he has a photo at the top of the page. And, Desert Icicle retired yesterday, not Happy Hopi – I have one more Happy Hopi left. I will miss these blooms, especially The Colorado Kid. She had a great season this year – bloomed for a month! So, our numbers will drop off pretty rapidly by August. Still hoping for a few late scapes!

Other blooms today: Aztec Firebird, Mount Echo Sunrise, Dream Catcher, Skinwalker, Comanche Princess, Navajo Rodeo, Mama Cuna, Cheddar Cheese, Nosferatu, Heron’s Cove, Canyon Colors, El Desperado, Purple de Oro, Bluegrass Music, Mildred Mitchell, Blue Beat, Ruby Spider, Return a Smile, Longlesson Show-off, Passionate Returns, Lullaby Baby, Chorus line, Mellow Balls, Lacy Doily, South Seas, Marque Moon, Stephanie Returns, Mini Pearl, Prairie Wildfire, Prelude to Love, Bela Lugosi, Pick of the Litter, Raspberry Propeller, Black Eyed Susan, Baja, Prairie Blue Eyes, Hesperus, Indian Sky, Just Plum Happy, Pink and Cream, Ruby Stella, Strutters Ball and Nurse’s Stethoscope.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Category: Southwest Name Daylilies

Finale Ally

Attachment, Separation, and Loss

Christmas in July

Decrescendo!

Desperado

Quiet Friday

The Bud Stands for All Things

A Wednesday in Your Garden

Tuesday Afternoon is Neverending!

The Mamas and the Papas