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Just a Painter Passing Through in History

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“If you want to know my secret don’t come runnin’ after me
For I am just a painter passing through in history” – Gordon Lightfoot

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be” – Abraham Maslow

 

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Painting of Kokopelli by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, so it is.  Yesterday, I painted Kokopelli.  One of my early bloomers is now always in bloom in my house.  It settles my nerves.  Lots going on in my life – but I slept like a baby.

I woke up to a pretty bloom from Red Hot Returns.  Nice way to start the day.

 

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Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

 

Fall Blooms and Roots

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Time flies . . . it has been a couple of weeks since I posted.  A lot has happened. I am less than two weeks away from my doctorate.  And, I believe I have a full-time job in my future. A couple cultivators are still in bloom, and I have new roots in the ground.  Perhaps returning to school is like planting new roots.  You give them water, soil, sunshine, and fertilizer.  Then, in time they bloom.  Blooms are like jobs – the reward for the TLC given to the roots.

Today’s blooms were Heirloom Heaven:

 

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Heirloom Heaven – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, Red Hot Returns (with less thrip damage than before):

 

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Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

As promised, here are the Painted Petroglyph roots from a couple weeks ago next to the photo from a few days ago:

Progress toward that 2017 bloom.  Like submitting an assignment . . .  it takes time.

Fall is here and my attention is turning to my winter indoor blooms.  My amaryllis bulbs and poinsettia need to go dark soon.  I got a new mum, Thanksgiving cactus, and designer begonia.  My Gerber Daisy is in bloom, as is my azalea. Oh, and those geraniums.  They tend to be my winter bloomers.   I will probably blog about those some over the winter.

I’m also working on my fall daylily fertilizing program.  My re-bloomers ran out of steam this year, so that is a sign that they need more nutrients.   I have added some great Ned Roberts roots to my Southwest daylily patch – Glen Eyrie, Adios Albuquerque, Twirling Pinata, and Truchas Sunrise.  I got extra fans (as bonuses) of Echo Canyon and Desert Icicle that will thicken up my existing plants.  My Navajo Rodeo roots are booming this time.  And, I think I am already getting my spring daylily order planned.  That paycheck will be great to feed my daylily habit.

The Scapes of Late August

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Today, my granddaughter, Maia, turned 10.  Today, my daughter started nurse practitioner school.  Today, I interviewed for a job.  And, today Ruby Stella started sending up a new scape.  It is late August.  Back to school time.  And, I still have scapes.  I might – just might – make it to freeze.  In spring these things are thick as fur on an angora.  Now, I savor each one.   When I brought Ruby home, she had one bud left . . . that has been a month ago.  A sign that the earth is still alive.

 

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Ruby Stella scape from today – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Actual blooms today were Heirloom Heaven:

 

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Heirloom Heaven – Photo by Colorado Kid Dalilies – C. Hartt

 

Red Hot Returns:

 

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Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

My last Orange Flurry in wth my big old Banana Yucca:

 

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Orange Flurry – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, both colors of Stella:

It is threatening to rain . . . it is suppose to be raining.  At least it is cool.  Not a drop on my desert daylilies yet, though.  Come on, August showers bring September growth.  Getting strong for the spring.

A Good Day . . . in the Daylilies

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Today started with an email from one of my resilience websites.  I have seen this before – but it is still as beautiful.  I wish I had the patience for time-lapse of these blooms.  If you want to feel a little positive emotion and wonder, give this a few minutes.

So, here are my weekend miracles. Frans Hals:

 

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Frans Hals – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Orange Flurry:

 

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Orange Flurry – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Red Hot Returns:

 

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Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Stella:

 

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Golden Stella de Oro – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Not bad for late August. PS – I could have sworn that Heirloom Heaven bloomed yesterday but no photos – I must have missed it somehow.

Today brought a light application of Mir-Acid. (Miracle Grow for acid loving plants).  My soil here is so basic that it won’t change. The base in the soil quickly neutralizes the acid.  The iron is bound at that pH, so it can’t be absorbed.  Anemic daylilies.  Mulch, manure, peat moss, acidifiers can all help.  They probably won’t change the pH for long (if at all), but they do boost the availability of nutrients.  The joy of living in an ancient sea bed. It’s trial and error.  I am grateful for the lessons of my garden.  It makes me feel like a hands-on healer, again.  A good day.

 

Tiptoe Through the 2016 Daylilies with Me!

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I may be dating myself, but I will never forget Tiny Tim singing Tiptoe through the Tulips on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in.  When I decided to make this compilation of all my 2016 cultivators (all have bloomed, although some still have scapes/buds), it was a little like tiptoeing through my garden.  The song came to mind.  I would like to redo this with the day of the first and last bloom (in blooming order) sometime this winter when it is minus something and I need a daylily fix.  It serves a purpose of not just lifting the spirit, but providing a timeline for predicting future years.  So, here is the movie.

PS – My blooms today were Red Hot Returns, Frans Hals, Heirloom Heaven, and Orange Flurry.  Mostly, though, my work was fertilizing pots and moving one daylily to a sunnier spot.  I was just reading up on it, and I do think I need to give these guys some nutrition twice a year.  It is the desert, after all.   I need this foliage to be a bit less anemic when the spring comes around, again.  It is all a learning curve.

Live Life Like a Daylily, One Day at a Time

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One of the things that I like best about daylilies is that they are in the moment.  And, when the moment is over, they move on.  They don’t hold on to the past, like we humans do.  So, today they are my mentors.

Today I had four bloomers.  Perhaps this is a sign of optimism from my little friends.  I had little Heirloom Heaven:

 

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Heirloom Heaven – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, Frans Hals:

 

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Frans Hals – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Orange Flurry:

 

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Orange Flurry – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Finally, Stella de Oro:

 

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Stella de Oro – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

I love the late fall-colored blooms, but I have got to tell you that I find new roots almost equal in their awesomeness.  I mean, you get some stuff in the mail that looks like wilted root veggies and you trim them back and plant them.  And, within days, they start becoming daylilies.  They are so optimistic about the future!

These are the Painted Petroglyph roots that I planted on Tuesday and they already have new green growth.  I’ll try to take another photo next week for comparison.  Next to the roots is a web photo of the cultivator in bloom.  I cannot wait for spring.

 

It is Better than Therapy!

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Here I am, finishing up my doctorate and still waiting for the next door to open.  My knuckles get raw from knocking.  They said it would open doors, and I need to stay optimistic, positive.

The garden helps.  And, the blog is to be my happy place, so I won’t dwell on bloody knuckles here.  I will say that when I left my computer to go put compost and manure in my daylily pots (some needed to be replanted do to settling), my mood shifted.  I was focused in the moment.  Painting daylily tiles does the same thing. Flow.  Loss of time, self. So, hey, what a blessing these guys are to grow.  It is more than the blooms . . . it is the cycle of life.

Today was my last Pizza Crust for the year.  It is a lot prettier later in the day to me.  So, this was actually taken in the evening.  Have to savor the last one.

 

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Pizza Crust – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And. Stella.  She seems to be taking a break before sending new scapes . . . and I have 3 of her.  So, I shall be patient.

 

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Golden Stella – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

I still have Frans Hals, Heirloom Heaven, and Red Hot Returns. And, a few new plantings on the way . . . big, classy spiders.  I just love them with the yucca.  As Tom Hanks said in Castaway – Let’s see what the tide brings in tomorrow.  A new bloom, an interview, a porta-potty?  Here is to optimism!

 

Red Hot Returns

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This daylily name reminds me of a politician’s IRS filing.  It was added to the front lawn daylily area because my others are all mid-only bloomers.  I like the red and green combo.  It has a brand new scape, which is cool because Stella dropped hers for now. (PS – I believe this is the last new cultivator to bloom this year unless someone surprises me.)

 

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Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Speaking of Stella, she did show up today.

 

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Stella de Oro – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

I haven’t talked about my daylily helpers.  Meet my dogs, Maizzy and Kachina.  Maizzy is named for my grandkids, Maia and Isaac.  And, Kachina was named Tina in the shelter.  I had just planted Kachina Firecracker and Kachina Dancer when I got her – so her name was changed to Kachina.  Named for a doll and a daylily. She lives up to both names.

 

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Daylily Dogs – Maizzy and Kachina (in that order)

 

So, it is back to the hunt, for me.  And, this time it isn’t Ned Roberts daylilies.  Well, not exclusively, anyway.

A Little Piece of Heaven in my Yard

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Today, Heirloom Heaven bloomed for the first time.  This little one was one of my first root plantings last year.

 

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Heirloom Heaven – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

It is a miniature, at least this first bloom cycle.  Here it is with my petite finger:

 

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Heirloom Heaven with my finger for proportion

 

Other blooms were my orange/yellow combos.  Frans Hals:

 

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Frans Hals – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, Orange Flurry:

 

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Orange Flurry – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Oh, and Stella, of course:

 

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Yella Stella – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Today also brought the first of a couple fall plantings.  I got one called Painted Petroglyph on fall sale at Shady Rest Gardens.  It is not a Robert’s cultivator, but it still belongs in my Southwest garden.  It is beautiful.  Live long and prosper little one.  I also replaced Navajo Rodeo – love the fall sales!  I added a few more fans of Electric Lizard, as mine are still anemic.

I didn’t order much this fall, but the daylilies keep me going.  I am getting two new Roberts blooms, too.  Twirling Pinata and Glen Eyrie.  My daughter lives in Colorado Springs, so I couldn’t resist the second one. (Many of the Roberts cultivators were hybridized right there!)  I love fall plantings because, by spring they act like they have been here forever!  I think I will hit 80 cultivators that bloomed this summer.  That’s just over 50%.  Keep on mulching!

Oh, and keep on painting.  I finally finished Chief Four Fingers in the wee hours.

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The Sun, and the Rain, and the Daylily Roots

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When it comes to places to live, I stay on the sunny side.  This place west of the Divide and east of the desert is not the habitat of daylilies.  They are go-getters, though.  I have only lost one or two of all those that I put in last year.  Some act pretty shocked for a bit.  Like, hey, we aren’t in Georgia anymore, Toto.   So, below is my city’s annual precipitation from city-data.com – we are a couple standard deviations below the mean.

And, below are the sunshine days.  Here, we are close to a couple standard deviations above the mean.  Desert daylilies.

The downside of this climate, along with the very base ph, clay soil, is that it is nothing like the natural daylily habitat.  It is trial and error.  And some stuff you don’t get to see the results from for a year.  And, so, today I finished putting my mulch concoction on my main flower garden cultivators.  We will see if this helps.  Not that I did poorly this year, but Stephanie Returns didn’t return.  In fact, she only had one scape.  She is not the only one who is below her mean.  So, let’s hope this mulching is more than just a load of BS.

A few blooms to go with the calluses, sunburn, and bug bites.  Two of my last three Pizza Crust buds:

 

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Pizza Crust – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, my Stellas.  Yeez, I wish those gals could help with yard work.

 

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Yella Stella – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

 

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Golden Stella – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

PS – Heirloom Heaven is close – and has another brand new scape.  Hopefully, the mulching won’t hurt these little buds.  I think Red Hot Returns is very close, too.  Tomorrow ????