Surviving a 1,000-Year Drought: Daylily Care in High Desert Conditions on the Colorado Plateau

July 15, 2026Leave a comment

Hello Daylily Fans!

July, she flies. In fact, all of daylily season flies. Every year. It seems like the time between Saratoga Springtime and Purple Corndancer is about a week. But, in reality, it’s generally late May through sometime in August or September.

I have had several bloom since my last post on July 6th. We are getting into middle-late bloomers now. The temps have been close to or at 100 degrees daily for several days with minimal humidity. The smoke has cleared some, but the daily poor air quailty reports continue. And, we had about 10 minutes of rain a couple days ago – the first in weeks.

While droughts are common here in the high desert of the Colorado Plateau, this year is different. According to Drought.gov, this is the most severe drought period the region has experienced since at least 800 CE, beating out droughts that led Ancestral Puebloan cultures to abandon the Four Corners region.

And, despite that, my daylilies have done OK. Not great, but OK enough that I am at a 61% bloom rate for the year so far. The sad part is that it is my Southwestern Roadtrip Garden that is hardest hit. And, that is where my favorite cultivators live – my Ned Robert’s spiders and others that bear high desert names. The list of what hasn’t bloomed is bigger than the list of what has – at least for that garden.

I am planning to do some hardcore rehab of my pots in the Southwestern Roadtrip Garden this fall. And, the winter looks good for snow so far. Hopefully, my high desert spiders will be back in 2027.

Here are all my cultivators that have bloomed since July 7th. Enjoy!

I should add, that I have had about 34 of my Ned Roberts spiders bloom so far this year. That’s a gift. Last year, I had about 50. I still have a few left to bloom. But, it won’t be close to last year. I will do a whole blog on this once they have all bloomed.

Until next week,

Keep on blooming, Cathy Hartt, DNP (Daylily Nerd Person)

Visit my Art from the Hartt website for some great garden and daylily art from the high desert of the Colorado Plateau.

Tacos, Firebirds, and Skinwalkers: Come see what is new in my drought ridden daylily garden!

July 19, 2025May 7, 2026Leave a comment

Droughts, Wildfires, and Daylilies

Droughts and wildfires go together, daylilies not so much. The smoke has cleared (mostly) from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison South Rim Fire (<10 miles away), and they have the fire 15% contained. My last blog post talks more about the fire. Some rain has fallen on my garden since the last post, too. The drought continues, though. Keep reading to enjoy my daylilies from the past week!

Monitoring and Maintaining My Resilient Daylilies

I am surprised my daylilies have done as well as they have this year with the heat and drought. I have somewhere around 190 cultivators. I badly need to do inventory, maps, and labels this year. I love the Flower daylily software, but I struggle to keep it updated. I seem to lose a lot of the newer ones from other climates over the first winter/spring – but I am not even sure what I have lost until I do inventory because some lost tags.

Black Canyon South Rim Fire – Watch Duty from today. About 15% contained.

Honestly, though, I am limited by time and water. I may replace some cultivators if I lose them, but I won’t be adding many more to my total. I’m at capacity. I am growing ditch lilies in the desert drought. I love daylilies, and they are survivors! My time goes into keeping those I have alive and healthy. And, my money goes into city water. I can’t imagine trying to hybridize or sell in my situation.

New Blooms and Current Bloom Rate

I have had a total of 139 cultivators bloom this season (out of around 190). That is a 73% bloom rate. Last year, we only got to the mid-sixties, so I am thrilled. And, the season isn’t over. In the high desert, 80% is a huge win. I need to fertilize, but without the monsoon moisture and cooler temps, I am waiting until next month. With daylilies in pots, I find applying liquid fertilizer improves bloom rate for the following year because the plant is more resilient.

Here are my “first bloom for 2025” cultivators since my last post:

The bloom peak is now over the top and past the plateau. However, I still have 30-40 cultivators in bloom daily, with 2-3 new ones most days. My beloved Ned Roberts’ southwest names spiders are just now peaking! Life gets extremely busy during daylily season, especially with my business and volunteer work.

Which is your favorite daylily from this post? For me, Zuni Thunderbird has always been a favorite! This computer is even named Zuni Thunderbird after the daylily.

Keep flourishing, Cathy H

A Dedication to My Daylily Friend and More Colorful Spiders!

July 23, 2024Leave a comment

A Dedication: For My Daylily Friend

Life can change in a moment. A couple of years ago, an online friend who I met through a Facebook daylily group called Daylily Lovers and I did a daylily exchange. He lived in the same USDA zone but in the eastern US. I’m out west. I sent him Saratoga Springtime and he sent me Autumn Minaret. I guess we were looking for daylilies from opposite seasons to add to our yards.

The daylily he sent didn’t do much last year, so today is the first ever bloom for Autumn Minaret. I want to dedicate this post to my friend. So much happened to him so quickly. I doubt he will ever see this post but I wonder how he are doing. The flower will always remind me of his love of daylilies.

Readers – Have you ever exchanged daylilies with a friend? How did it go? Please share the experience! Did you stay local or ship the daylily roots? Do you recommend daylily exchanges to others?

More Ned Spider Daylilies

I had two new Ned Roberts daylilies in the Southwest Road Trip Garden today: Black Arrowhead and Skinwalker. I like the dark daylilies, and I didn’t even realize Black Arrowhead had a scape. Nice surprise.

Skinwalker is an old favorite – love the pale yellow and the wispy petals.

Yesterday, was also a day of new spider daylilies from my Ned Roberts collection. Maybe my Southwest Road Trip Garden will catch-up a little. Cheyenne Eyes, Desert Icicle, Shape Shifter, and Taco Twister. That makes 31 total Roberts Spiders for the year out of 72, I believe. That’s 43% for the year. A dozen more and it’ll be 60%. Stretch goal!

Until the Last Daylily Blooms: Skinwalker Painting and Signed Prints

Immerse yourself in the serene beauty of nature with this exquisite, original hand-painted daylily wall art. Capturing the delicate forms of Skinwalker, a yellow daylily with subtle pink edging, this piece serves as a charming accent for any room.

Speaking of Skinwalker, I have an original hand painted wood panel or limited edition signed prints available of my Skinwalker painting. These are available through my Until the Last Daylily Blooms Sale and they are now 30% off through August 19. These are limited edition and available while supplies last. The original panel is now $24.50 (plus free shipping) and the prints are only $8.50. Click on photo to go to listing for the painting (or click here). Click here for listing of the limited edition signed prints.

Visit my Etsy shop Art from the Hartt at the link above – or my business website here. This is a time-limited sale – until my last daylily blooms!

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My Favorite Spiders!

July 31, 2023July 31, 20231 Comment

The last couple of days have been filled with several of my Ned Roberts spiders blooming for the first time this year. One side of my Southwest Garden has been so quiet because the early bloomers ghosted us. But, it’s filling up with mid-late bloomers!

I went to the Rodeo yesterday so didn’t post. It rained afterwards and again this afternoon. Finally, a break in the heat.

I combined yesterday and today into one reel. Names in order: (7/29) Desert Icicle, BlackArrowhead, (7/30 Skinwalker, KachinaFirecracker, Dancing Maiden, Cricket Call, Aztec Firebird, and GoldenEclipse.

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Please visit my website Www.artfromthehartt.com

The Summit is Just the Halfway Point

July 17, 2022Leave a comment

The thought that half or more of my scapes are still unbloomed is staggering. Especially days when there are a dozen premiers in one day. And, I’ve ordered 3 new daylilies plus replacements for 2 of mine that died last winter. It’s like raising the altitude of Everest a thousand feet when you are struggling to reach the summit. I’ll need to add on to my drip system.

I had some cool Ned Roberts spiders blooming for the first time today. 73 total in bloom and 67% of all my cultivators have bloomed so far.

Here we go!

We will see what tomorrow brings.

July Daylily Roundup A-M

August 1, 2021August 1, 20212 Comments

The next two posts are a listing of the daylilies that have bloomed ANYTIME during July – even if they started in June. It is a large list but also a colorful one. I believe only 3 of my cultivators were totally done in June – Saratoga Springtime, Scorpio and yellow Stella de Oro.

If you like Ned Roberts cultivators, you have come to the right place because I have about 70 of them, and most (except Navajo Curls and Adios Albuquerque) that are going to bloom the year have bloomed sometime during July.

I went to the rodeo here last night, so I am all practiced-up and ready to go.

“Fringe Benefit” 6.27-7.12 (mislabeled bonus)

Glen Eyrie 7.25-7.30 (started while I was on vaca 7.19-24)

Golden Eclipse 7.16-present

Jungle Queen 7.1-7.19-24? Finished during vacation

Marque Moon 7.13-7.19 (ended 7.19-7.24 during vaca)

July Round-up N-Z – click here for more beautiful July blooms!

Please contact my business – Art and Nature from the Hartt for sales questions/availability.

Collections

July 6, 2021Leave a comment

I’ve been intrigued by the show Hoarders this year. IDK why, because I hate reality TV. Maybe it is because I have a 1st degree family member who struggles with this. Maybe because I needed to feel something with human emotions. Maybe my own home needed some cleaning and decluttering. Maybe just to kill time.

What is the difference between hoarding daylilies and collecting daylilies – that is my question. I guess that if your garden has labels, is watered and weeded, and you take photos everyday – that is probably a collection. Hoarding would probably be a back yard full of disorganized pots with some live and dead plants – and you can’t move anywhere because the pots are everywhere. Bugs . . . well, I have a few of those but my guess it isn’t like a hoard. Some of my daylilies are named after bugs, though. Is there such thing as a daylily hoard?

I have collections within my collection. My favorite collection is my Ned Roberts cultivators. I have ordered these from far and wide to form my collection. The other, overlapping, collection is my Southwest names collection. Some of these were bonuses sent with my Roberts collection because the names were Southwestern – so they go with my Ned Roberts collection. My original collection was those available at local nurseries. I have a collection with family names for my grandma, mom, dad, daughters and grandkids. The list goes on. If I kept adding, I think it could become a hoard. Daylilies are too much work to have too many!

I have had 94 bloom so far this year and 7 more premiers today. Here they are:

Baby Blue Eyes – 7.6- added to my near blues collection (yes, I have one of those, too) a couple years ago.

Black Arrowhead – 7.6 – A distinctive Ned Roberts Southwestern spider.

Blackthorne – 7.6 – This cultivator is from my original local nurseries collection and this is the first bloom in many years.

Cheyenne Eyes – 7.6 – A big, lanky Roberts spider.

Chorus Line – 7.6 – A pretty pastel from a local nursery.

Classy Lady – 7.6 – IDK, maybe she came from the auction?

Melon Balls – 7.6.1 – A sweet little bonus from my early collecting years.

Finales – Yesterday was the finale of Purple Moonrise.

I counted about 50 with scapes that haven’t bloomed. I think we will hit at least 80% this year. I need to move my daylily software over to my other computer to be sure, though.

Sixty-Six Spiderman Daylilies for 2020

August 9, 2020Leave a comment

Hi all – When it is Saturday and it hasn’t been the fun day that I planned. COVID had driven the world mad – and they seem to all be mad at me. So, how about a little Ned Robert’s daylily therapy? I fell in love with Ned’s southwestern named daylilies after finding Kokopelli on Lily Auction 5 years ago. I have a collection of 70 ish now. I am including a few from 2019 if they didn’t bloom this year. Comment with your favorite! Direct from Montrose, Colorado . . .

July’s Colorful Parade

July 31, 20203 Comments

Are you ready for a beautiful July parade? Here goes – a listing of all of my daylilies that had first blooms in July. I count 81. Enjoy!

Visions of New Mexico

July 24, 2020Leave a comment

Today, I had two Premiers – both Ned Roberts spiders with names from the State to south of here – New Mexico. The first one, Navajo Grey Hills, I believe to be named after a trading post just south of Shiprock, NM (Four-Corners region). I drive that way sometimes but never noticed it . . . I need to keep a lookout.

Star over Milagro is the other Premier of the day. Milagro is east of Albuquerque. Off our road trip circuit by a few miles.

Let’s see – Orange Punch was an Encore today.

Finales – Stephanie Returns, Fringe Benefit, Longlesson Show-off, Black Arrowhead, and Cheyenne Eyes. I like about 25 blooms – it is a good amount but not overwhelming. And, the monsoons have been back all week.